Co₂P Nanorods as an Efficient Cocatalyst Decorated Porous g‐C₃N₄ Nanosheets for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production under Visible Light Irradiation

Abstract

Abstract Graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ), which typically acts as the 2D support for loading with cocatalysts, endows fascinating performances for photocatalytic water splitting. Benefiting from the natural sheet‐like structure in g‐C 3 N 4 , 1D metal phosphides (Co 2 P) nanorods are incorporated into 2D porous g‐C 3 N 4 nanosheets via a solution‐phase method under ultrasonication. The novel 1D/2D Co 2 P/g‐C 3 N 4 heterojunction nanohybrids exhibit ameliorated visible‐light photocatalytic H 2 generation without the assistance of Pt as noble metal cocatalysts. Interestingly, the optimal loading of Co 2 P nanorods is 3 wt%, giving a maximum H 2 production rate of 53.3 µmol h −1 g −1 . Hence, the solution‐phase hybridization technique can be extensively applied for the smart engineering of other 1D and 2D nanomaterials, leading to unprecedented opportunities on the highly efficient heterojunction photocatalysts for solar‐to‐H 2 conversion.