Overcoming Defect Limitations in Photocatalysis: Boron‐Incorporation Engineered Crystalline Red Phosphorus for Enhanced Hydrogen Production

• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202400542
• Publication Date: 2024-02-26T20:19:31Z
• Authors: Xinya Pei; Junwei Bian; Wei Zhang; Zhuofeng Hu; Yun Hau Ng; Yi Dong; Xinhui Zhai; Zhen Wei; Yuxi Liu; Jiguang Deng; Hongxing Dai; Lin Jing
• Keywords: Charge carrier

Abstract Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) from water splitting is a promising technology for clean and renewable energy production. Elemental crystalline red phosphorus (CRP) purposefully designed developed PHE reaction. However, the photocatalytic activity of CRP limited by its intrinsic P vacancy (V ) defects, which lead to detrimental charge trapping at deep states hence severe recombination. To address this issue, boron (B) incorporated (B‐CRP) photocatalyst tailored, synthesized via simple mild boric acid‐assisted hydrothermal strategy. The incorporation B effectively fills V reducing trap (DTS) introducing beneficial shallow (STS) within band structure CRP. This defect engineering approach leads enhanced activity, with B‐CRP achieving rate 1392 µmol g −1 h , significantly outperforming most reported elemental photocatalysts in literature. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations ultrafast spectroscopy support constructive role B‐dopant‐induced STS prolonging active carrier lifetimes, promoting more efficient reactions. findings not only demonstrate effectiveness as but also highlight usefulness dopant‐induced advancing technologies.