Skip to main content
Log in

Cellulose fibers/polydopamine/zinc sulfide composite paper: predoping in situ fabrication for biphase interface photocatalytic hydrogen production from water

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Cellulose Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Solar-driven water splitting by inorganic semiconductor photocatalysts is considered a promising method to produce hydrogen fuel. Loading inorganic semiconductor on cellulose fiber to construct photocatalytic paper contributes to the dispersion and recycling of photocatalyst. In addition, the photocatalytic paper floating on water can build a solid–gas biphase photocatalytic interface (photothermal-generated steam/photocatalytic paper/hydrogen), replacing the traditional liquid–solid–gas triphase photocatalytic interface (liquid water/photocatalyst/hydrogen) for improving photocatalytic kinetics. Here, we design and synthesize a photocatalytic composite paper with zinc sulfide (ZnS) anchored onto cellulose fibers (CF) with the help of polydopamine (PDA). PDA achieves high load and uniform distribution of ZnS on cellulose fibers, and forms the ZnS/PDA heterojunction to increase photogenerated charge separation efficiency and photocatalytic stability. Solid–gas biphase photocatalytic interface constructed by the CF/PDA/ZnS composite paper minimizes the interface barriers of hydrogen transport and water molecular adsorption for improving hydrogen evolution rate. The CF/PDA/ZnS composite paper shows a high hydrogen production rate up to 18706.8 μmol h−1 g−1. Stable loading of ZnS/PDA heterojunction in composite paper contributes to the photocatalytic stability. In the third photocatalytic cycle, the hydrogen evolution rate of CF/PDA/ZnS composite paper remains 96.4%. This work inspires that anchoring of inorganic semiconductor on cellulose fibers with the help of PDA can be a promising strategy for designing efficient photocatalytic paper for solar hydrogen production.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22108029) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2572022BB08).

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22108029). Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2572022BB08).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Libo Zheng: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing-original draft. Kaihua Zhong: Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization. Xiujie Huang: Investigation, Discussion, Funding acquisition, Writing-review and editing. Xueren Qian: Investigation, Project administration, Supervision. All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiujie Huang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors confirm that this article content has no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zheng, L., Zhong, K., Huang, X. et al. Cellulose fibers/polydopamine/zinc sulfide composite paper: predoping in situ fabrication for biphase interface photocatalytic hydrogen production from water. Cellulose 31, 2523–2540 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-024-05778-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-024-05778-z

Keywords

Navigation