Novel interfacial lateral electron migration pathway formed by constructing metallized CoP2/CdS interface for excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Promoting photo-induced electron transfer is one of the most efficient approaches for improving photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. Herein, we construct a novel interfacial lateral electron migration path by introducing CoP 2 into CdS photocatalytic system as cocatalyst for the first time. This peculiar migration path can be attributed to two aspects: 1) the built-in electric field between CoP 2 and CdS could drive carrier separation effectively; 2) the "metallized" interface serves as a special electron trap to accumulate electrons and promote them transfer along it instead of diffusion into cocatalyst. The energy-efficient interface shortens the electron migration distance and make more hot electrons participate in the reaction at the active sites with lower activation energy. As expected, the optimal hydrogen production rate of CoP 2 /CdS reaches up to 1071 mmol h−1 g−1, which is one of the most robust photocatalytic hydrogen production systems. [Display omitted] • A series of CoP x /CdS with different Co-P ratios were simply synthesized by modulating the ratio of Co and P sources. • A novel interface consisting of a built-in electric field region and a "metallized" region is constructed. • The special interface effectively traps photogenerated electrons and makes more hot electrons be used efficiently. • The optimal photocatalytic performance of CoP 2 /CdS was up to 1071 mmol h−1 g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]