Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution by Integrating Dual Co-Catalysts on Heterophase CdS Nano-Junctions

Development of novel low price porous nanostructures with robust photocatalytic hydrogen generation rate and high durability is critical to help to meet the future energy demand. A prominent number of sunlight active semiconductor photocatalyst nanostructures have been formulated for the aforementioned photocatalytic reactions. However, their practical application has been limited by low efficiency and unstability induced by the rapid recombination of charge carriers. To effectively reduce the recombination rate, the addition of electron-transporting cocatalysts is a promising strategy. However, the rate of photogenerated holes is generally slower than that of photogenerated electrons, extending the recombination. To overcome this difficulty in this study for the first time, coloading of both photogenerated electrons and hole-transporting cocatalysts (C@CoS₂ and TFA) on light-harvesting semiconductor heterophase homojunction CdS (OD-2D CdS) is established as a productive way to ameliorate the photocatalytic water splitting efficiency. Benefiting from the huge active catalytic sites, high light harvesting capacity and suitable band structure, the nanohybrid exhibits a prominent amount of hydrogen 87.73 mmol·g_cat ^-1·h^-1 was evolved with high durability. We believe that the results presented herein may expand the potential uses of sunlight active catalysts for sustainable and clean H₂ fuel production and to help satisfy the future energy demand.