Efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over carbon supported antiperovskite cobalt zinc nitride

[Display omitted] •The research highlights of this paper are list below:•Antiperovskite phase bimetallic nitride Co3ZnN has been prepared.•Replacement of Co by Zn leads to improved charge transfer and catalytic properties.•The optimal Co3ZnN/C shows 6 times higher of H2 evolution rate than that of Co4N.•The particle size of Co3ZnN could be nicely controlled by carbon black support. Photocatalytic solar to chemical energy conversion is an important energy conversion process but suffer from low efficiency. Thus, development of efficient photocatalytic system using earth-abundant elements with low costs is highly desirable. Here, antiperovskite cobalt zinc nitride has been synthesized and coupled with carbon black (Co3ZnN/C) for visible light driven hydrogen production in an Eosin Y-sensitized system. Replacement of cobalt atom by zinc atom leads to an improved charge transfer kinetics and catalytic properties compared with Co4N. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further reveal the adjusted electronic structure of Co3ZnN by zinc atom introducing. The lower antibonding energy states of Co3ZnN are beneficial for the hydrogen desorption. Moreover, carbon black as support effectively reduces the particle size of Co3ZnN and benefits to the electron storage and adsorption capabilities. The optimal Co3ZnN/C catalysts exhibit the H2 evolution rate of 15.4 μmol mg−1h−1, which is over 6 times higher than that of monometallic Co4N. It is even greater than those of most of Eosin Y-sensitized systems.