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ZnGeP2: A near-infrared-activated photocatalyst for hydrogen production

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Abstract

In this work, we prepared ZnGeP2 (ZGP) photocatalyst using single flat temperature zone (SFT) method in a vacuum quartz ampoule. The XRD, SEM, EDS, DRS and XPS were used to characterize the crystal structure, morphology, elemental content, optical absorption and band gap structure of ZGP. The results of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and apparent quantum efficiency show that ZGP is a promising photocatalyst for hydrogen production both under visible and near-infrared light irradiation. In addition, it is also found that adding the common stabilizer H3PO2 and ultrasonic treatment can efficiently improve the photocatalytic activity and stability of ZGP.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21832005, 51602179, 51972195, 21972078, and U1832145), the Major Special Projects of Shandong Province (public welfare; 2019GGX103026). P. Wang acknowledges the support from the Recruitment Program of Global Experts, China, and B. Huang acknowledges the support from the Taishan Scholars Foundation of Shandong Province.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Xin Li, Peng Wang, Ya-Qiang Wu, Zhen-Hua Liu, Qian-Qian Zhang, Ze-Yan Wang, Yuan-Yuan Liu, Zhao-Ke Zheng & Bai-Biao Huang

  2. Engineering Technology Research Center of Henan Province for Solar Catalysis, College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang, 473061, China

    Xin Li

  3. Comprehensive Technical Service Center, Linyi Customs, Linyi, 276034, China

    Ting-Ting Zhang

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  1. Xin Li
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  2. Peng Wang
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Correspondence to Peng Wang.

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Li, X., Wang, P., Wu, YQ. et al. ZnGeP2: A near-infrared-activated photocatalyst for hydrogen production. Front. Phys. 15, 23604 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-020-0958-4

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