A NIR‐Responsive Phytic Acid Nickel Biomimetic Complex Anchored on Carbon Nitride for Highly Efficient Solar Hydrogen Production

Abstract A challenge in photocatalysis consists in improving the efficiency by harnessing a large portion of the solar spectrum. We report the design and realization of a robust molecular‐semiconductor photocatalytic system (MSPS) consisting of an earth‐abundant phytic acid nickel (PA‐Ni) biomimetic complex and polymeric carbon nitride (PCN). The MSPS exhibits an outstanding activity at λ =940 nm with high apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 2.8 %, particularly λ>900 nm, as it outperforms all reported state‐of‐the‐art near‐infrared (NIR) hybrid photocatalysts without adding any noble metals. The optimum hydrogen (H 2 ) production activity was about 52 and 64 times higher with respect to its pristine counterpart under the AM 1.5 G and visible irradiation, respectively, being equivalent to the platinum‐assisted PCN. This work sheds light on feasible avenues to prepare highly active, stable, cheap NIR‐harvesting photosystems toward sustainable and scalable solar‐to‐H 2 production.