Phosphorene dominated integrative dual-electric field guiding charge flow for vapor-fed photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

Wu, Xi; Song, Jingang; Zhang, Jinying; Su, Haiyan; Ma, Tianyi; Zeng, Minghua; Zhang, Bin; Zhang, Fuxiang et al. · Nat Commun · 2026

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

Manipulating oriented electron flow and tailored reaction microenvironments in radial-unguided two-dimensional phosphorene remains challenging. Here, we show that Rh-decorated violet/black phosphorus heterostructures, engineered with integrative dual-electric fields from cooperative phase and fringing electric field, enable efficient vapor-fed photocatalytic hydrogen production. This dual-electric field establishes a strong intrinsic charge driving force and edge charge ordering. The vapor-fed gas-solid system minimizes interfacial diffusion barriers and solvent shielding, allowing the field to steer photoelectrons and interact with H<sub>2</sub>O molecules at the edge-located Rh active centers. Analyses reveal that the integrative dual-electric field strengthens polarization and overcomes the water dissociation barrier at the gas-solid interface. The optimized catalyst achieves a H<sub>2</sub>-generation rate of 5218.7 μmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> under simulated sunlight, roughly 2.4 times conventional liquid-solid systems. This work demonstrates that synergy between integrative dual-electric fields and the gas-solid microenvironment overcome the kinetic limitations of phosphorene-based photocatalysts for efficient solar-driven hydrogen conversion.