N-doped vanadium carbide combined with Pt as a multifunctional cocatalyst to boost photocatalytic hydrogen production

Cocatalyst loading is an efficient strategy to accelerate the hydrogen evolution reaction, which is the final crucial process to complete photocatalytic hydrogen production and realize solar-to-hydrogen conversion. Herein, we report that N-doped vanadium carbide (NVC) is combined with Pt to form a multifunctional cocatalyst capable of enhancing carrier separation, activating H2O, and accelerating H2 evolution. Our designed Pt/NVC/C3N4 displays much higher photocatalytic activity than g-C3N4 loaded with Pt or NVC. The photocatalytic H2 evolution rate of Pt/NVC/C3N4 reaches 40 μmol/h, which is three times and one hundred times higher than that of Pt/C3N4 and NVC/C3N4, respectively. The significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity of Pt/NVC/C3N4 is attributed to the partial synergy between Pt and NVC, where NVC promotes carrier separation and activates H2O, and Pt is responsible for boosting proton reduction. Our work demonstrates that hybrid cocatalysts exhibit superior performance compared to traditional single-component cocatalysts, providing guidance for exploring highly active cocatalysts for photocatalysis.