P-doped MnCdS coupled with cobalt porphyrin as co-catalyst for the photocatalytic water splitting without using sacrificial agents.

Photocatalytic water splitting over semiconductors is an important approach to solve the energy demand of human beings. Most photocatalytic H generation reactions are conducted in the presence of sacrificial agent. However, the use of sacrificial reagents increases the cost of hydrogen generation. Realizing photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production without the addition of sacrificial agents is a major challenge for photocatalysts. The porphyrin MTCPPOMe and P doped MnCdS make a significant contribution in facilitating the MnCdS photocatalytic pure water splitting to H reaction. Herein, a novel MTCPPOMe/P-MnCdS (M = 2H, Fe, Co, Ni) composite catalyst which can efficiently split pure water without using sacrificial agents is developed. As a result, the H generation rate of CoTCPPOMe/P-MnCdS is as high as 2.10 μmol h, which is 9.1 and 4.2 times higher than that of MnCdS (MCS) and P-MnCdS (P-MCS), respectively. P doped MnCdS inhibits the recombination of photogenerated carriers, and introduction of MTCPPOMe as co-catalyst enhances the reduction capacity. In summary, an efficient and economical photocatalystis prepared for pure water splitting to prepare hydrogen.