A Red Brick‐Derived Fe <sub>2</sub> P‐Based Cocatalyst Sheet Enables Monolithic Photocatalysts for Efficient Solar Hydrogen Production

Beyond powder-suspension photocatalytic systems, monolithic photocatalysts featuring excellent recyclability and enhanced light utilization efficiency have been promising candidates for large-scale solar-driven photocatalytic water splitting, yet often suffer from complex fabrication processes and reliance on the use of expensive scaffolds and additional cocatalyst loading. Herein, we develop monolithic photocatalysts via utilizing a cocatalyst sheet (Fe<sub>2</sub>P/RB) derived from red brick (RB) by vapor-phase phosphidation as a scaffold to anchor particulate semiconductors (e.g., CdS, Zn<sub>0.5</sub>Cd<sub>0.5</sub>S, TiO<sub>2</sub>, and g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>), for solar-driven photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub> production from the water splitting. The endogenous Fe oxides within RB sheet are in situ converted into embedded Fe<sub>2</sub>P during phosphidation, serving as electron sinks to promote charge separation and H<sub>2</sub>-evolving active sites to improve water splitting performance. Impressively, the monolithic CdS-Fe<sub>2</sub>P/RB photocatalyst sheet achieves a visible-light (λ ≥ 420 nm) photocatalytic HER rate of 7.7 mmol g<sub>CdS</sub> <sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> and an apparent quantum yield (AQY) as high as 30.5% at 420 nm, which are 12.4 and 3.2 times higher than that of the powder-suspension system, respectively. Furthermore, the excellent integrity enables CdS-Fe<sub>2</sub>P/RB to stably produce H<sub>2</sub> for 120 h with negligible activity decay. This work offers an effective strategy for the rational designs of cost-efficient and high-performance monolithic photocatalysts for solar water splitting.

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Small
Published
2026-01-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202511096
Primary Topic
Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
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article
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article

A Red Brick‐Derived Fe 2 P‐Based Cocatalyst Sheet Enables Monolithic Photocatalysts for Efficient Solar Hydrogen Production

Z. zhang, Fang Wang, Junqing Wang, Shixiong Min
Small
Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
article

A Red Brick‐Derived Fe 2 P‐Based Cocatalyst Sheet Enables Monolithic Photocatalysts for Efficient Solar Hydrogen Production

Z. zhang, Fang Wang, Junqing Wang, Shixiong Min
article en

Abstract

Beyond powder-suspension photocatalytic systems, monolithic photocatalysts featuring excellent recyclability and enhanced light utilization efficiency have been promising candidates for large-scale solar-driven photocatalytic water splitting, yet often suffer from complex fabrication processes and reliance on the use of expensive scaffolds and additional cocatalyst loading. Herein, we develop monolithic photocatalysts via utilizing a cocatalyst sheet (Fe<sub>2</sub>P/RB) derived from red brick (RB) by vapor-phase phosphidation as a scaffold to anchor particulate semiconductors (e.g., CdS, Zn<sub>0.5</sub>Cd<sub>0.5</sub>S, TiO<sub>2</sub>, and g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>), for solar-driven photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub> production from the water splitting. The endogenous Fe oxides within RB sheet are in situ converted into embedded Fe<sub>2</sub>P during phosphidation, serving as electron sinks to promote charge separation and H<sub>2</sub>-evolving active sites to improve water splitting performance. Impressively, the monolithic CdS-Fe<sub>2</sub>P/RB photocatalyst sheet achieves a visible-light (λ ≥ 420 nm) photocatalytic HER rate of 7.7 mmol g<sub>CdS</sub> <sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> and an apparent quantum yield (AQY) as high as 30.5% at 420 nm, which are 12.4 and 3.2 times higher than that of the powder-suspension system, respectively. Furthermore, the excellent integrity enables CdS-Fe<sub>2</sub>P/RB to stably produce H<sub>2</sub> for 120 h with negligible activity decay. This work offers an effective strategy for the rational designs of cost-efficient and high-performance monolithic photocatalysts for solar water splitting.

SmallVol. 22(15)
North Minzu University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 83%
Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
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A Red Brick‐Derived Fe <sub>2</sub> P‐Based Cocatalyst Sheet Enables Monolithic Photocatalysts for Efficient Solar Hydrogen Production — Z. zhang, Fang Wang, et al. · Small (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS