A Red Brick-Derived Fe₂P-Based Cocatalyst Sheet Enables Monolithic Photocatalysts for Efficient Solar Hydrogen...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Photocatalysis
• Renewable Energy

Background:

• Monolithic photocatalysts offer advantages over powder systems for solar water splitting, including recyclability and light utilization.
• Current fabrication methods are often complex and require expensive materials and cocatalysts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a cost-efficient monolithic photocatalyst for solar-driven hydrogen production.
• To utilize a red brick-derived scaffold for anchoring various semiconductor photocatalysts.
• To enhance photocatalytic water splitting performance and stability.

Main Methods:

• A cocatalyst sheet (Fe2P/RB) was fabricated from red brick (RB) via vapor-phase phosphidation.
• Particulate semiconductors (CdS, Zn0.5Cd0.5S, TiO2, g-C3N4) were anchored onto the Fe2P/RB scaffold.
• The monolithic photocatalyst's performance in solar-driven hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was evaluated under visible light.

Main Results:

• The monolithic CdS-Fe2P/RB photocatalyst achieved a HER rate of 7.7 mmol gCdS-1 h-1 and an apparent quantum yield (AQY) of 30.5% at 420 nm.
• Performance metrics were significantly higher (12.4x for rate, 3.2x for AQY) compared to powder-suspension systems.
• The material demonstrated excellent stability, producing hydrogen for 120 hours with negligible activity decay.

Conclusions:

• This work presents an effective strategy for designing cost-efficient, high-performance monolithic photocatalysts.
• Red brick-derived Fe2P/RB scaffolds show great potential for advancing solar water splitting technologies.
• The developed monolithic photocatalysts offer a promising route for scalable solar-driven hydrogen production.