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Superior performance in visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution reaction of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous SrTiO3 decorated with ZnxCd1−xS

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Abstract

It is of broad interest to develop emerging photocatalysts with excellent light-harvesting capacity and high charge carrier separation efficiency for visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. However, achieving satisfying hydrogen evolution efficiency under noble metal-free conditions remains challenging. In this study, we demonstrate the fabrication of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous SrTiO3 decorated with ZnxCd1−xS nanoparticles for hydrogen production under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). Synergetic enhancement of photocatalytic activity is achieved by the slow photon effect and improved separation efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. The obtained composites could afford very high hydrogen production efficiencies up to 19.67 mmol·g−1·h−1, with an apparent quantum efficiency of 35.9% at 420 nm, which is 4.2 and 23.9 times higher than those of pure Zn0.5Cd0.5S (4.67 mmol·g−1·h−1) and CdS (0.82 mmol·g−1·h−1), respectively. In particular, under Pt-free conditions, an attractive hydrogen production rate (3.23 mmol·g−1·h−1) was achieved, providing a low-cost and high-efficiency strategy to produce hydrogen from water splitting. Moreover, the composites showed excellent stability, and no obvious loss in activity was observed after five cycling tests.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (Grant No. 17JCYBJC22600), Tianjin Development Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Technology for Complex Transmedia Pollution, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Huiying Quan, Ying Xuan & Kai Yu

  2. Institute of New Catalytic Materials Science and MOE Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Materials, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Kejiang Qian, Lan-Lan Lou & Shuangxi Liu

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  1. Huiying Quan
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  2. Kejiang Qian
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  5. Kai Yu
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Correspondence to Kai Yu.

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Superior performance in visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution reaction of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous SrTiO3 decorated with ZnxCd1−xS

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Quan, H., Qian, K., Xuan, Y. et al. Superior performance in visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution reaction of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous SrTiO3 decorated with ZnxCd1−xS. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 15, 1561–1571 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-021-2089-z

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