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A Novel Earth‐Abundant W‐WC Heterojunction as Efficient Co‐Catalyst for Enhanced Photocatalytic H 2 Evolution
Author(s) -
Ma Baojun,
Zhang Sipeng,
Wang Wei,
Feng Li,
Zhang Ruisheng,
Lin Keying,
Li Dekang,
Zhan Haijuan,
Yang Xu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201901950
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , tungstate , heterojunction , materials science , catalysis , calcination , chemical engineering , tungsten , tungsten carbide , nanotechnology , metallurgy , optoelectronics , chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
New functional materials are of significance for the industry development of coal and tungsten. Here, we reported a novel earth‐abundant W‐WC heterojunction on CdS as an efficient and cheap co‐catalyst for photocatalytic H 2 evolution on CdS under visible light irradiation. The W‐WC is simply synthesized from industrial raw material of coal and ammonium tungstate by a simple one‐step calcination strategy. The photocatalytic activities tests show that W‐WC heterojunction has better co‐catalytic performance than W or WC alone, and the optimal photocatalytic activity of W‐WC/CdS reaches 3314 μmol/h/g, which are17.4 and 2.6 times larger than that of CdS and Pt/CdS alone, respectively. Electrochemical tests demonstrate the WC has large specific capacitance and acts as electron reservoir storing the photo‐excited electron from CdS, whereas W mainly acts as the catalytic center. The heterojunction formed between W and WC is favorable for the electron transferring. The different functions of W and WC along with the heterojunction between W and WC account for the superiority of W‐WC. The design and fabrication strategy of the W‐WC heterojunction co‐catalyst benefits for the industrial development of new material and photocatalysis.