Constructing Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S/Co3O4 ternary heterostructure for high-efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

Tianpeng Yu, Zihan Li, Zunhang Lv, Xin Liu, Guixue Wang, Guangwen Xie*, Luhua Jiang**

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and

Technology No. 53 Zhengzhou Road, Qingdao 266042, China.

Corresponding Authors:

E-mail: xiegw@qust.edu.cn; luhuajiang@qust.edu.cn

Abstract

Constructing heterostructure for efficient charge separation is a hopeful way for enhance photocatalytic hydrogen production. In this paper, we successfully construct the Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S/Co3O4 (Ni2P/CZS/Co3O4) heterostructure via three-step hydrothermal method. It is demonstrated that Ni2P/CZS/Co3O4 shows a prominent photocatalytic H2 generation activity of 39.66 mmol·g-1·h-1, revealing about 2.42 times enhancement compared to that of the pure Cd0.5Zn0.5S (CZS) under visible light. The closely contacted CZS/Co3O4 forms a type-Ⅱ heterostructure to accelerate the separation of photo-induced charge. The Ni2P acts as electron traps to capture the photoelectrons, and provide active sites for proton reduction. Moreover, the cooperative synergy of type-II heterostructure and active sites achieves an obvious improvement for photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Keywords: Ni2P/Cd0.5Zn0.5S/Co3O4 nanocomposites; ternary heterostructure; photocatalysis; hydrogen evolution