Self‐Accelerating H2 Evolution Activity by In Situ Transformation on Noble‐Metal‐Free Photocatalyst of Covalent Organic Framework and Cu2O Composite

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 34; no. 25
• Main Authors: Liu, Yu‐Han, Chu, Xiaoyu, Jiang, Yanxia, Han, Wei, Wang, Ya, Shao, Lu‐Hua, Zhang, Guiling, Zhang, Feng‐Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-06-2024
• Subjects: Carrier density; charge transfer and separation; Copper oxides; covalent organic frameworks; Cu2O; Current carriers; Density functional theory; Hydrogen production; Illuminance; noble metal free; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; photocatalytic H2 production
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202316546

It is expected that the activity of photocatalysts can remain the same or decrease as little as possible in photocatalysis reaction. Herein, for the first time, a self‐accelerating H2 production activity in a noble‐metal‐free Cu2O/TpPa‐2‐COF photocatalyst is reported. It shows a beginning H2 production rate of 4.41 mmol h−1 g−1 under visible light illuminance, while the activity kept increasing to 27.27 mmol h−1 g−1 after 25 h reaction, which is 6.2 times higher than the beginning activity and reaches a record high. It is confirmed that part of Cu2O in Cu2O/TpPa‐2‐COF in situ transformed to Cu0 in photocatalytic reaction, which acting as cocatalyst promotes the separation of photogenerated charge carriers. Further density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the Schottky barrier height of Cu‐Cu2O (111) interface is much smaller than that of Pt‐Cu2O (111), supporting its more efficient effect than that with Pt as cocatalyst.
A noble metal free Cu2O/TpPa‐2‐COF photocatalyst with self‐accelerating catalytic activity is designed for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Theoretical and experimental results reveal that the outstanding activity is mainly attributed to the conversion of binary Cu2O/TpPa‐2‐COF to ternary Cu‐Cu2O/TpPa‐2‐COF, and Cu‐Cu2O (111) shows more efficient electron separation ability than Pt‐Cu2O (111).