title: Black Phosphorus Revisited: A Missing Metal-Free Elemental Photocatalyst for Visible Light Hydrogen Evolution.
abstract: Metal-free elemental photocatalysts for hydrogen (H2) evolution are more advantageous than the traditional metal-based inorganic photocatalysts since the nonmetal elements are generally cheaper, more earth-abundant, and environmentally friendly. Black phosphorus (BP) has been attracting increasing attention in recent years based on its anisotropic 2D layered structure with tunable bandgap in the range of 0.3-2.0 eV; however, the application of BP for photocatalytic H2evolution has been scarcely reported experimentally although being theoretically predicted. Herein, for the first time, the visible light photocatalytic H2evolution of BP nanosheets prepared via a facile solid-state mechanochemical method by ball-milling bulk BP is reported. Without using any noble metal cocatalyst, the visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of BP nanosheets reaches 512 µmol h-1g-1, which is ≈18 times higher than that of the bulk BP, and is comparable or even higher than that of graphitic carbon nitrides (g-C3N4).
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information & Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xianjun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Taiming
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zijun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Huanlin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information & Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information & Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hengxing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Pingwu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information & Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Shangfeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
keywords: ball-milling; black phosphorus (BP); few-layer nanosheets; hydrogen evolution; photocatalysts