Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution using Black Phosphorus Heterostructures
Summary
Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution harnesses solar energy to split water into molecular hydrogen, offering a sustainable route to green fuel production. Black phosphorus (BP), a layered two‐dimensional semiconductor, has emerged as a promising photocatalyst owing to its tunable bandgap, high carrier mobility and strong visible‐light absorption. However, pristine BP suffers from rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers, which limits its hydrogen‐evolution performance. Construction of BP‐based heterostructures—where BP is coupled with other semiconductors or distinct phosphorene phases—has proven an effective strategy to promote interfacial charge separation, extend light‐harvesting spectra and provide abundant active sites. Through careful band‐alignment engineering, phase matching and cocatalyst decoration, BP heterostructures achieve accelerated electron–hole separation and enhanced catalytic turnover. Advances range from phase‐engineered BP/Violet phosphorus interfaces to BP quantum‐dot‐sensitised composites and metal‐free BP/carbon‐nitride hybrids. Such designs have demonstrated substantial gains in hydrogen evolution rates under visible‐light irradiation, highlighting the global significance of BP heterostructures in clean energy technologies and their potential for scalable, low‐cost fuel generation.
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Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution using Black Phosphorus Heterostructures publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution using black phosphorus heterostructures across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Photocatalysis: Light‐driven acceleration of chemical reactions at a semiconductor surface, enabling processes such as water splitting.
Heterostructure: A composite of two or more semiconductors with differing band structures, designed to improve charge‐separation efficiency.
Charge recombination: The undesirable process by which photogenerated electrons and holes recombine, reducing photocatalytic efficiency.
Cocatalyst: An added substance, often a noble metal, that provides active sites to facilitate surface reactions and lower overpotentials.
Bandgap: The energy difference between the valence and conduction bands in a semiconductor, determining light‐absorption range.
References
- Phase Engineering of 2D Violet/Black Phosphorus Heterostructure for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution. Small Structures (2023).
- A Low‐Cost Metal‐Free Photocatalyst Based on Black Phosphorus. Advanced Science (2018).
- Enhanced Photocatalytic H2 Evolution over ZnIn2S4 Flower-Like Microspheres Doped with Black Phosphorus Quantum Dots. Nanomaterials (2019).
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