ZIF-derived CoP as a cocatalyst for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production activity of g-C3N4

The graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) photocatalyst has drawn widespread attention owing to its excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production activity. For the first time, an efficient g-C3N4-based non-precious-metal photocatalyst, CoP/g-C3N4, with ZIF-67-derived CoP nanoparticles as cocatalysts was prepared by a two-step calcination under different atmospheres. It demonstrates that CoP nanoparticles derived from ZIF-67 can extensively improve the photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4. When the amount of CoP in the photocatalyst was calculated to be 1.42 wt%, a high photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of 201.5 μmol g−1 h−1 was obtained, which was almost 23 times higher than that of bulk g-C3N4 and also surpassed that of bulk g-C3N4 with Pt as the cocatalyst. In addition, electrochemical experiments and photoluminescence spectra indicate that the CoP/g-C3N4 photocatalysts exhibit the advantage of a low recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes, resulting in a high rate of electron transport.