journal article·2022-10Open access

Theoretical proposal of a revolutionary water-splitting photocatalyst: The monolayer of boron phosphide

Tatsuo Suzuki

Abstract

Recently, hydrogen generation by water-splitting photocatalysts is attracting attention as a sustainable and clean energy resource. Photocatalytic hydrogen-generation systems are much simpler, cheaper, and easier to scale up than the coupled systems of electrolysis and solar cells, wind-power generation, etc. However, photocatalytic hydrogen generation is currently inefficient. This paper proposes the monolayer of boron phosphide as a stable highly-efficient water-splitting photocatalyst by high-precision density-functional theory calculations using a HSE06 functional with a solvent effect. The monolayer of boron phosphide has a direct allowed energy gap of about 1.4 eV, and functions as a one-step excitation photocatalyst. It absorbs sunlight with wavelengths below about 890 nm (ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light) and produces both hydrogen gas and oxygen gas from water at a suitable pH condition. By calculating the overpotentials of hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, its photocatalytic effectiveness was confirmed. The monolayers of boron phosphide will realize green hydrogen revolution.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques · 2D Materials and Applications · MXene and MAX Phase Materials

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

References (47)

Show source-provided references
1. Electrochemical photolysis of water at a semiconductor electrode10.1038/238037a0 ↗
2. Photocatalytic solar hydrogen production from water on a 100–m2 scale10.1038/s41586-021-03907-3 ↗
3. Fabrication of flexible and freestanding zinc chalcogenide single layers10.1038/ncomms2066 ↗
4. Freestanding tin disulfide single-layers realizing efficient visible-light water splitting10.1002/anie.201204675 ↗
5. All-surface-atomic-metal chalcogenide sheets for high-efficiency visible-light photoelectrochemical water splitting10.1002/aenm.201300611 ↗
6. Photocatalyst design based on two-dimensional materials10.1016/j.mtchem.2018.11.002 ↗
7. Two-dimensional photocatalyst design: A critical review of recent experimental and computational advances10.1016/j.mattod.2019.10.022 ↗
8. Recent progress, challenges, and prospects in two-dimensional photo-catalyst materials and environmental remediation10.1007/s40820-020-00504-3 ↗
9. Size-dependent photocatalytic activity of cubic boron phosphide nanocrystals in the quantum confinement regime10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b06487 ↗
10. Hexagonal boron phosphide monolayer exfoliation induced by arsenic incorporation in the BP (1 1 1) surface: a DFT study10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.148163 ↗
11. Hybrid functionals based on a screened Coulomb potential10.1063/1.1564060 ↗
12. J. Heyd, G.E. Scuseria, M. Ernzerhof, Erratum: “Hybrid functionals based on a screened Coulomb potential” [J. Chem. Phys. 118, 8207 (2003)], J. Chem. Phys. 124 (2006) 219906.10.1063/1.2204597 ↗
13. Hybrid functional study on structural and electronic properties of oxides10.1016/j.cap.2010.09.008 ↗
14. n -type boron phosphide as a highly stable, metal-free, visible-light-active photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.08.041 ↗
15. The preparation and properties of boron phosphides and arsenides 110.1021/ja01491a014 ↗
16. Photoelectrochemical behavior of p-type boron phosphide photoelectrode in acidic solution10.1246/bcsj.58.2634 ↗
17. Water-dispersible boron phosphide nanosheets for enhancing the thermal conductivity of nanofluids10.1016/j.molliq.2020.113023 ↗
18. Growth of millimeter-size single-crystal boron phosphide by eutectic melt at 5.0 GPa and 3000 °C10.1016/j.ssc.2021.114206 ↗
19. Theoretical discovery of stable structures of group III-V monolayers: the materials for semiconductor devices10.1063/1.4936553 ↗
20. Monolayer honeycomb structures of group-IV elements and III-V binary compounds: first-principles calculations10.1103/PhysRevB.80.155453 ↗
21. Energy bands of atomic monolayers of various materials: possibility of energy gap engineering10.1016/j.physe.2010.04.031 ↗
22. Electronic structures of single-layer boron pnictides10.1063/1.4758465 ↗
23. First-principles study on electronic and optical properties of graphene-like boron phosphide sheets10.1063/1674-0068/28/cjcp1505100 ↗
24. Electronic, photocatalytic, and optical properties of two-dimensional boron pnictides10.1007/s10853-018-2987-8 ↗
25. First-principle study of electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional materials-based heterostructures based on transition metal dichalcogenides and boron phosphide10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.01.005 ↗
26. Electronic and photocatalytic performance of boron phosphide-blue phosphorene vdW heterostructures10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.146483 ↗
27. Electronic and photocatalytic properties of two-dimensional boron phosphide/SiC van der Waals heterostructure with direct type-II band alignment: a first principles study10.1039/D0RA05579D ↗
28. Two-dimensional boron phosphide/MoGe2N4 van der Waals heterostructure: a promising tunable optoelectronic material10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01284 ↗
29. Stabilities of group-III phosphide (MP, M = B, Al, Ga and In) monolayers in oxygen and water environments10.1039/D0CP00224K ↗
30. Projector augmented-wave method10.1103/PhysRevB.50.17953 ↗
31. From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method10.1103/PhysRevB.59.1758 ↗
32. Ab initio molecular dynamics for liquid metals10.1103/PhysRevB.47.558 ↗
33. Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set10.1103/PhysRevB.54.11169 ↗
34. Implicit solvation model for density-functional study of nanocrystal surfaces and reaction pathways10.1063/1.4865107 ↗
35. Implicit self-consistent electrolyte model in plane-wave density-functional theory10.1063/1.5132354 ↗
36. Frisch · 2010
37. Experiments on Ge-GaAs heterojunctions10.1109/T-ED.1962.15056 ↗
38. The absolute energy positions of conduction and valence bands of selected semiconducting minerals10.2138/am-2000-0416 ↗
39. Charge transfer equilibria between diamond and an aqueous oxygen electrochemical redox couple10.1126/science.1148841 ↗
40. Origin of the overpotential for oxygen reduction at a fuel-cell cathode10.1021/jp047349j ↗
41. Universality in oxygen evolution electrocatalysis on oxide surfaces10.1002/cctc.201000397 ↗
42. DFT studies of dry reforming of methane on Ni catalyst10.1016/j.cattod.2009.08.022 ↗
43. Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) mechanism under alkaline and acidic conditions10.1088/2515-7655/abdc85 ↗
44. Rumble · 2021
45. Generalized gradient approximation made simple10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.3865 ↗
46. A consistent and accurate ab initio parametrization of density functional dispersion correction (DFT-D) for the 94 elements H-Pu10.1063/1.3382344 ↗
47. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Reference Air Mass 1.5 Spectra. .