Red Phosphorus Grafted High‐Index (116) Faceted Anatase TiO<sub>2</sub> for Z‐Scheme Photocatalytic Pure Water Splitting
Yukun Zhu, Jun Ren, Guiqing Huang, Chung‐Li Dong, Yucheng Huang, Ping Lü, Hua Tang, Yiming Liu, Shaohua Shen, Dongjiang Yang
Abstract
Abstract Red phosphorus (RP) is an emerging visible‐light‐responsive photocatalyst, yet the rapid charge recombination has limited photocatalytic hydrogen production activity. In this work, a Z‐scheme heterostructure with RP nanolayer coated on high‐index (116) faceted anatase TiO 2 nanoparticles (TiO 2 @RP) is designed and fabricated via chemical vapor deposition. Compared with pristine TiO 2 and RP, the optimized TiO 2 @RP Z‐scheme heterostructure exhibits a significantly boosted photocatalytic activity for pure water splitting, with hydrogen evolution rate reaching 12.9 µmol·h −1 , under simulated solar light irradiation. The strong interfacial interaction and staggered band alignment between (116) faceted TiO 2 and RP result in the formation of built‐in electric field, which can drive the directional charge migration from the conduction band (CB) of TiO 2 to the valance band (VB) of RP under light irradiation, with photoelectrons and holes of high redox ability maintained at the CB of RP and the VB of TiO 2 , respectively. This well‐designed heterostructure greatly promotes photogenerated charge separation and migration via a direct Z‐scheme charge transfer pathway.