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

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 photoinduced 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.