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Highly efficient hydrogen production performance of g-C3N4 quantum dot-sensitized WO3/Ni–ZnIn2S4 nanosheets

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Abstract

Metal sulfide semiconductor photocatalysts have been widely used in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reactions due to their good light absorption properties and high photostability. However, the metal sulfide photogenerated carriers of these catalysts are susceptible to recombination, which reduces the rate of hydrogen production. In this study, ZnIn2S4 was doped with the transition metal ion Ni2+ to regulate and control the absorption sidebands of ZnIn2S4, improve the catalyst's responsiveness to visible light, and hence increase the hydrogen production rate. Ni–ZnIn2S4 catalysts with varying doping ratios were prepared, and the optimal doping ratio of 1.0% was selected for further experiments. A WO3/Ni–ZnIn2S4 composite photocatalyst was synthesized using the hydrothermal method to produce a heterojunction with a constant doping ratio of 1.0%. Loading WO3 on this catalyst enhanced the light absorption intensity, improved the photogenerated carrier separation efficiency, and significantly increased the hydrogen evolution rate of the catalyst by 2.1 times. Finally, an g-C3N4 QDs/WO3/Ni–ZnIn2S4 catalyst was prepared by loading quantum dots for sensitization. The g-C3N4 quantum dots served as a sensitizing role, greatly improved the light absorption intensity, and further improved the hydrogen evolution rate of the catalyst, which was increased to 9.29 mmol/(g·h).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported financially by Open subject of Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering at Universities of Education Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (20201001), Cross projects of Nanyang Institute of Technology (330078), Doctoral research startup fund of Nanyang Institute of Technology (510140), Science and technology project of Henan Province (182102210460) and Open subject of Henan Key Laboratory of microbial fermentation (HIMFT20210204).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biology and Chemical Engineering/Henan Key Laboratory of Microbial Fermentation, Nanyang Institute of Technology, Nanyang, 473000, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    Keliang Wu, Chuan Yao, Yinghan Cao, Chenyang Liu, Zhenghai Shi & Bingke Li

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University/Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan/Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region/Engineering Research Center of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, Shihezi, 832003, Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Pengcheng Wu & Peng Chen

  3. Department of Petroleum and Chemical, Bayinguoleng Vocational and Technical College, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Korla, 841000, China

    Junfang Zhu & Dongmei Yang

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  1. Keliang Wu
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Wu, K., Yao, C., Wu, P. et al. Highly efficient hydrogen production performance of g-C3N4 quantum dot-sensitized WO3/Ni–ZnIn2S4 nanosheets. Appl. Phys. A 128, 903 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-06055-1

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