Black phosphorus-based photocatalysts for energy and environmental applications

Abstract

Photocatalysis using semiconductor materials to conduct chemical reactions more efficiently with the aid of sunlight irradiation is foreseen as a promising solution to combat the energy and environmental pollution crisis that the world is facing at present. Finding a suitable semiconductor material that harvests a large portion of the sunlight spectrum with high photocatalytic efficiency lies in the heart of photocatalysis. In this regard, black phosphorus (BP), a rising star two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting material, has recently been regarded as an abundant, nontoxic, metal-free, and cheap photocatalyst with a suitable bandgap and broad light absorption ability. In this chapter, after the introduction of the general properties and synthesis of BP, the photocatalytic efficiency of BP and BP-based composites in energy and environmental applications are summarized.