Single‐Site Active Cobalt‐Based Photocatalyst with a Long Carrier Lifetime for Spontaneous Overall Water Splitting

作者：Wei Liu, Linlin Cao, Weiren Cheng, Yuanjie Cao, Xiaokang Liu, Wei Zhang, Xiaoli Mou, Lili Jin, Xusheng Zheng, Wei Che, Qinghua Liu, Tao Yao, Shiqiang Wei · 发表于：Angewandte Chemie · 年份：2017 · DOI：10.1002/ange.201704358 · 被引用次数：123 · 研究领域：Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques、Copper-based nanomaterials and applications、Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

Abstract An active and stable photocatalyst to directly split water is desirable for solar‐energy conversion. However, it is difficult to accomplish overall water splitting without sacrificial electron donors. Herein, we demonstrate a strategy via constructing a single site to simultaneously promote charge separation and catalytic activity for robust overall water splitting. A single Co1‐P4 site confined on g‐C3N4 nanosheets was prepared by a facile phosphidation method, and identified by electron microscopy and X‐ray absorption spectroscopy. This coordinatively unsaturated Co site can effectively suppress charge recombination and prolong carrier lifetime by about 20 times relative to pristine g‐C3N4, and boost water molecular adsorption and activation for oxygen evolution. This single‐site photocatalyst exhibits steady and high water splitting activity with H2 evolution rate up to 410.3 μmol h−1 g−1, and quantum efficiency as high as 2.2 % at 500 nm.