Metal free earth abundant elemental red phosphorus: a new class of visible light photocatalyst and photoelectrode materials

Developing a high-performance photocatalyst and a photoelectrode with enhanced visible light harvesting properties is essential for practical visible light photocatalytic applications. Noble metal-free, highly visible light-active, elemental red phosphorus (RP) was prepared by a facile mechanical ball milling method, which is a reproducible, low cost and controllable synthesis process. The synthesis used inexpensive and abundant raw materials because most RP hybrids are based on expensive noble-metals. The novel milled RP showed significantly enhanced photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical performances with a lower charge transfer resistance compared to commercial RP under wide visible photoirradiation, making it a feasible alternative for photocatalytic applications.