A synergism between Schottky junction and interfacial P-Ni bond for improving the hydrogen evolution of 2D/2D NiS/Phosphorus-doped g-C3N4 photocatalyst

• Novel 2D/2D P-doped g-C 3 N 4 /NiS Schottky-junction with interfacial P-Ni bond is successfully fabricated. • The 2-NPCN composite displays enhanced photocatalytic activity for applying in H 2 evolution. • The synergism between Schottky junction and interfacial P-Ni bond enhances the hydrogen evolution activity. • The rational photocatalytic H 2 evolution mechanism of 2-NPCN is proposed through experiment. The engineering and synthesis of g-C 3 N 4 -based photocatalysts with high utilization rate of charge carriers and extensive visible light responsive range is pivotal to alleviate the energy crisis. Herein, inosculating P-doped g-C 3 N 4 with NiS (NPCN) via the calcination-solvothermal method to establish 2D/2D Schottky-junction with interfacial P-Ni bond photocatalyst can achieve high-efficiency hydrogen production upon exposure to visible light, the 2-NPCN displays superior photocatalytic H 2 -release ability up to 299.6 μmol in the absence of cocatalysts, which is approximately 53.3 times higher than that of BCN (5.6 μmol). Not only that, the apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of the reconstructed material is 11.7% at 420 nm. Noticeably enhanced photocatalytic HER activities accrue from the fact that P-doped g-C 3 N 4 can shorten the band gap for widening the visible light responsive range, and the synergistic effect of Schottky-junction and P-Ni chemical bond can increase the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs and efficiently ameliorating the charge transfer dynamics. Moreover, the 2D/2D structure with large and tight contact interfaces can decrease the charge migration distance. In this work, the 2D/2D NPCN Schottky-junction photocatalyst reasonably designed provides a meaningful case for meeting the requirements for high-efficiency hydrogen production driven by solar energy.