Increasing the Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation Activity of CdS Nanorods by Introducing Interfacial and Polarization Electric Fields

Zheng Qi, Jinbao Chen, Qin Li, Ning Wang, Sónia A. C. Carabineiro, Kangle Lv

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

57 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) is a photocatalyst widely used for efficient H2 production under visible light irradiation, due to its narrow bandgap and suitable conduction band position. However, the fast recombination of carriers results in their low utilization. In order to improve photocatalytic hydrogen production, it reports the successful introduction of metallic Cd and S vacancies on CdS nanorods (CdS NRs) by a facile in situ chemical reduction method, using a thermal treatment process. This procedure generates interfacial and polarization electric fields, that significantly improve the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance of CdS NRs in sodium sulfide and sodium sulfite aqueous solutions, under visible light irradiation (λ >420 nm). The introduction of these electric fields is believed to improve charge separation and facilitate faster interfacial charge migration, resulting in a significantly optimized catalyst, with a photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of up to 10.6 mmol−1 g−1 h−1 with apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 12.1% (420 nm), which is 8.5 times higher than that of CdS. This work provides a useful method to introduce metallic and S vacancies on metal sulfide photocatalysts to build local polarization and interfacial electric fields for high-performance photocatalytic H2 production.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2303318
Number of pages9
JournalSmall
Volume19
Issue number46
Early online date20 Jul 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2023

Keywords

  • cadmium sulfide (CdS)
  • photocatalytic hydrogen production
  • polarization electric field
  • vacancy
  • visible light

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