N-doped vanadium carbide combined with Pt as a multifunctional cocatalyst to boost photocatalytic hydrogen production

Cocatalyst loading is an efficient strategy to accelerate the hydrogen evolution reaction, which is the final crucial process to complete photocatalytic hydrogen production and realize solar-to-hydrogen conversion. Herein, we report that N-doped vanadium carbide (NVC) is combined with Pt to form a multifunctional cocatalyst capable of enhancing carrier separation, activating H 2 O, and accelerating H 2 evolution. Our designed Pt/NVC/C 3 N 4 displays much higher photocatalytic activity than g-C 3 N 4 loaded with Pt or NVC. The photocatalytic H 2 evolution rate of Pt/NVC/C 3 N 4 reaches 40 μmol/h, which is three times and one hundred times higher than that of Pt/C 3 N 4 and NVC/C 3 N 4 , respectively. The significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity of Pt/NVC/C 3 N 4 is attributed to the partial synergy between Pt and NVC, where NVC promotes carrier separation and activates H 2 O, and Pt is responsible for boosting proton reduction. Our work demonstrates that hybrid cocatalysts exhibit superior performance compared to traditional single-component cocatalysts, providing guidance for exploring highly active cocatalysts for photocatalysis.