Hybrid cocatalysts have great application potential for improving the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of semiconductors. The interfaces between components of hybrid cocatalysts make a great contribution to the improvement, but the associated mechanisms remain unclear. Herein, we prepared and tested three comparative CdS-based photocatalysts with NiS, NiS/NiS, and NiS as the cocatalysts separately. The emphasis is placed on investigating the effect of the NiS/NiS interfaces on the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of CdS. NiS/NiS exhibits a higher ability than NiS and NiS in making CdS a more active photocatalyst for water splitting. It shows that NiS, NiS/NiS, and NiS perform similarly in terms of promoting the charge transfer and separation of CdS based on steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence studies. At the same time, the linear sweep voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests combined with the density functional theory calculations reveal that the component interfaces of NiS/NiS enable us to lower the water splitting activation energy, the charge-transfer resistance from the cocatalyst to sacrificial agent, and hydrogen adsorption Gibbs free energy. It is evidenced from this work that component interfaces of hybrid cocatalysts play a vital role in accelerating the dynamics of hydrogen evolution reactions.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.3c10097 | DOI Listing |
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!