Co3O4/CeO2 p-n heterojunction construction and application for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract The construction of p-n type heterojunction is an effective way to enhance the efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. In this work, Co3O4/CeO2 p-n heterojunction was construct by a simple hydrothermal method. This heterojunction mainly uses the internal electric field formed and accelerate the separation of electrons and holes in the opposite direction. In addition, according to SEM and TEM characterization, it was found that the granular cobalt oxide nanoparticles prepared by in-situ hydrothermal method were firmly and uniformly dispersed in cerium oxide, which effectively increased the active sites of hydrogen evolution. And combined with the BET results, it shows that the growth of cobalt oxide effectively increases the specific surface area and increases the active sites for hydrogen evolution. By exploring the hydrogen evolution capacity of different ratios of the complex, the test results showed that in all different ratios of the catalyst, CC-0.16 showed the best performance, and the hydrogen production efficiency reached 2298.52 μmol g−1h−1, which was 71 times that of nanobelt CeO2 and 2.72 times that of Co3O4. According to the characterization results, the photocatalytic water splitting mechanism of the p-n heterojunction was proposed, and the charge transfer mechanism in the process was discussed in depth.