Experimental study on Co-C3N4/BiPO4 composite for efficient photocatalytic water splitting

The Co-C3N4/BiPO4 photocatalyst is facilely synthetized to be application for the photocatalytic water splitting. The physic and chemical properties of Co-C3N4/BiPO4 are studied by a wide range of characterization methods. The Co-CN/BP photocatalyst shows well photocatalytic H2 evolution from water-splitting activity without noble metal. The Co-C3N4/BiPO4 with 5wt% Co-C3N4 loading exhibits the superior photocatalytic H2 evolution rate of 23.9 µmol/h/g. The remarkably enhancement of photocatalytic H2 evolution activity of Co-C3N4/BiPO4 composites is mainly ascribed to the effective charge transfer and separation of electron-hole pairs by the lattice-matched heterojunction structure. The work extends new opportunity for the design of non-noble metal photocatalysts with efficient photocatalytic water splitting.