Accelerated Photogenerated Charge Separation Driven Synergistically by the Interfacial Electric Field and Work Function in Z‐Scheme Zn‐Ni 2 P/G‐C 3 N 4 for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

ABSTRACT The design of green and low‐cost Z‐scheme heterojunctions with the interfacial electric field (IEF) is of prime importance to their photocatalytic hydrogenation performance and practical application. In this work, we construct a novel Z‐scheme heterojunction photocatalyst comprised of Zn‐Ni 2 P/g‐C 3 N 4 nanosheets for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Experimental results and density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the construction of Z‐scheme Zn‐Ni 2 P/g‐C 3 N 4 heterostructure not only promotes the generation of IEF directing from Zn‐Ni 2 P to g‐C 3 N 4 , along with work function, accelerating the photogenerated charge separation in Zn‐Ni 2 P/g‐C 3 N 4 , but also leads to the upshift of the p‐band state density in Zn‐Ni 2 P/g‐C 3 N 4 , favorable for the H* adsorption toward HER. The Zn‐Ni 2 P/g‐C 3 N 4 photocatalyst demonstrated excellent photocatalytic HER activity, with a hydrogen production rate of up to 1077 µmol g −1 h −1 and a stability of 49 h. Our findings provide a new method to enhance the separation of photogenerated charges. This improvement boosts the photocatalytic properties of solar‐driven materials and devices.