Smart Assembly of Sulfide Heterojunction Photocatalysts with Well‐Defined Interfaces for Direct Z‐Scheme Water Splitting under Visible Light
Jin Li, Xianming Liu, Jian Zhang
Abstract
Abstract A Z‐scheme photocatalytic water‐splitting system is an effective approach to integrate the advantages both hydrogen‐ and oxygen‐evolution photocatalysts. The interfacial properties of the heterojunctions have a great influence on the efficiency through the crystal orientation and the charge kinetics. In this study, a general chemical vapor deposition process and a gentle cation‐exchange method were combined to assemble Z‐scheme photocatalysts between CdS and MnS. As a result of the well‐defined heterojunction interfaces and distinctive structural benefits, without cocatalysts, the 1 D CdS/MnS hybrid photocatalyst exhibited a significantly increased photocatalytic H 2 evolution rate of 1595 μmol h −1 g −1 (apparent quantum efficiency of 22.6 % at λ =420 nm), which is over 10.5 times higher than that of CdS. Moreover, a better photocatalytic stability is demonstrated over particulate (42 h cycling measurement) and photoelectrochemical (3000 min continuous measurement) systems. Overall, this work provides a unique experimental insight into high‐quality heterojunction interface design and new Z‐scheme photocatalyst synthesis.