High-efficiency carrier separation heterostructure improve the photocatalytic hydrogen production of sulfide

Loading co-catalyst is one of the essential ways to strengthen the performance of photocatalyst. Here, a novel non-precious metal co-catalyst Ti₂C/TiO₂ was successfully synthesized and Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S nanoparticle grown on the surface of Ti₂C/TiO₂ equably. In our work, 0.01 g photocatalysts were used in photocatalytic activity measurement. Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S/Ti₂C/TiO₂ composite (2 wt% Ti₂C/TiO₂) exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity and the H₂ yield is 32.57 mmol/g⁻¹/h⁻¹ under visible light irradiation. The photoelectrochemical results reveal that Ti₂C/TiO₂ could improve the separation of the photo-induced carriers in Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S/Ti₂C/TiO₂ heterojunction. And DFT calculations demonstrate that the Gibbs free energy of oxygen-terminated Ti₂C and TiO₂ are much lower than that of Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S. Therefore, the Ti₂C/TiO₂ has an active impact on improving the H₂ production of Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S. This study provides a new way to explore the application of inexpensive co-catalysts on a large scale.