Construction of Ni2P modified N-doped TiO2 flower-like microspheres with rich 0D/2D heterojunctions for enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction

Ni2P nanocrystals modified N-doped TiO2 flower-like microspheres (Ni2P/N-TFMs) with rich 0D/2D heterojunctions were successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal-calcination route. The results indicate that N-TFMs are assembled by interlaced nanosheets with the thickness of only 3–8 nm, which provide abundant anchoring sites for the loading of Ni2P. Notably, the doping of N dopant effectively broadens the spectral response range of TFMs due to the formation of N 2p impurity energy level, and the formed 0D/2D heterojunctions between Ni2P nanocrystals and nanosheet units greatly facilitate the separation of photogenerated carriers and improve the photocatalytic reaction kinetic. Owing to the advantages in energy band structure and surface morphology, the synthesized 10Ni2P/N-TFMs composite exhibits a remarkably enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate (0.368 mmol h−1 g−1) compared with commercial P25 TiO2 and N-TFMs under visible light irradiation, implying a wide application prospect of this kind of nanostructure in the field of green hydrogen production.