Plasmonic quaternary heteronanostructures (HNSs) for improved solar light utilization, spatial charge separation, and stability in photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Recently, the frenetic development of stable quaternary material with a wide range of solar energy absorption and separation of charge carrier has emerged as a favorable material for the solar-to-hydrogen conversion. In this work, quaternary CuS-AgVO/Ag-TNR heteronanostructures (HNSs) synthesized by an ultra-sonication method for stabilized solar light photocatalytic hydrogen production in glycerol-water mixture. Among the prepared photocatalysts, the 1 wt% CuS-AgVO/Ag-TNR HNS produced the highest H activity (756 µmol/g), approximately 84 times greater than the TNR due to higher charge separation, excellent conductivity, plasmonic resonance effect, and electron-storing capacity. Interestingly, the accelerated charge transfer pathway through the Schottky junction between the AgVO and Ag to the conduction band of the TNR and thereafter to the electron acceptor of CuS for the reduction of H ions to H. Additionally, a possible photocatalytic mechanism of CuS-AgVO/Ag-TNR HNS for improved H production was proposed based on the results obtained by various characterization techniques. Therefore, present research work explores the new insights to design high-performance CuS-AgVO/Ag-TNR HNS material for the conversion of clean renewable H energy for the futuristic transport applications.