Boron phosphide (BP) is an inorganic compound composed of boron and phosphorus. It is a kind of semiconductor material. It was synthesized by French chemist Henri Morvasan in 1891 and has a sphalerite crystal structure.
Boron phosphide does not react with a boiling concentrated acid or alkali solution and may react with a molten base such as sodium hydroxide after preheating. Boron phosphate resists oxidation under 1000°C when exposed to air, and reacts with chlorine at around 500°C.Under high pressure at 2500°C, the compound remains stable, while over 1100°C, some phosphorus is lost due to vacuum heating, resulting in B12p1.8. Its crystal structure is similar to that of boron carbide.
Generally, boron phosphide is used as a non-toxic anticorrosive pigment in paint and coating industry, because it has both the anticorrosive properties of zinc phosphate and the high covering power and colouring power of titanium white powder, and can withstand high temperature. High whiteness and fineness, excellent dispersion, can cooperate with any pigment, enhance the original function, so it is an ideal wear-resisting coating material. Boron phosphide is also used as a semiconductor material in some fields. But boron phosphide can be used for much more than that. Recently, scientists have taken a new approach.
It is well known that the accelerated consumption of fuels is exacerbating the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, raising concerns of an energy crisis and leading to global warming. The conversion of carbon dioxide into high-value carbon-based fuels and chemical materials can effectively alleviate such problems. However, Electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2RR) involves complex multi-step Electrochemical transfer of protons. Such Electrochemical reduction involves a large number of products. As the most valuable C1 product in the CO2RR process, methanol has a high energy density, is easy to store at atmospheric pressure, and can be directly used in fuel cells. Recently, a team of Professor Sun Xoping of The University of Electronic Science and Technology of China reported a boron phosphide nanoparticle as a non-metallic electrocatalyst with high selectivity for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to methanol. At 0.1m KHCO3, when the reduction potential was − 0.5V (relative to the standard hydrogen electrode), the Faraday efficiency of methanol product reached 92.0%.Density functional theory (DFT) calculation shows that in BP(111) crystal surface, B and P synergously promote the adsorption and activation of CO2, and the decisive step of the reduction reaction path is *CO+*OH to *CO+*H2O, and the corresponding Gibbs free energy becomes 1.36 eV. In addition, on the BP(111) crystal surface, THE desorption barrier of CO and CH2O was high, 0.95 eV and 2.73 eV, respectively, which was one of the important factors for the high selective reduction of CO2 to methanol on BP catalyst.
Prior to this, precious metal catalysts and metal-based catalysts were often used for CO2RR catalysts, but the former was difficult to be applied in large scale due to high cost, while the latter had the risk of environmental pollution caused by metal ion release during operation. This attempt by Professor Sun Xuping's team not only saved the cost, but also improved the reaction efficiency. There will be opportunities for large-scale applications in the future.
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