A Z-scheme BiVO4/CdS hollow sphere with a high photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity

Abstract A Z-scheme BiVO4/CdS hollow sphere was prepared by a simple yet effective design. According to the morphology of the composite, the photo-generated carriers were spatially separated due to the well-designed structure and bandgap alignment. The highest HER activity reached 4.2 mmol·g-1·h-1 which is 105 and 1.75 folds of CdS nanoparticles and CdS/Pt nnanoparticles, respectively. The samples were investigated by TEM, XRD, XPS, UV-vis spectrum and BET. The band structure of BiVO4/CdS heterojunction was discussed.