Mesoporous 3D/2D NiCoP/g-C3N4 Heterostructure with Dual Co-N and Ni-N Bonding States for Boosting Photocatalytic H2 Production Activity and Stability

The mesoporous 3D/2D NiCoP/g-C3N4 heterostructure is fabricated by embedding NiCoP nanoclusters on the surfaces of g-C3N4 nanosheets, which exhibit more outstanding photocatalytic H-2 production activity than g-C3N4 modified with Pt and other similar phosphides. The highest H-2 production rate over NiCoP/g-C3N4 heterostructures reaches up to about 2.27 times than that of Pt/g-C3N4 under visible light, and meanwhile, the NiCoP/g-C3N4 heterostructure can maintain a continuously stable H-2 production rate during long cyclic running of 15 times in a total of 60 h. The structure and properties investigations reveal that the splendid H-2 production activity and stability derive from the formed dual Co- N and Ni-N bonding states between 3D NiCoP nanoclusters and 2D g-C3N4 nanosheets that can efficiently facilitate the transfer and separation of charge carriers and improve the interaction at heterointerfaces.