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Macroporous ZnO/ZnS/CdS composite spheres as efficient and stable photocatalysts for solar-driven hydrogen generation

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Abstract

Solar-driven hydrogen (H2) generation utilizing photocatalysts has received extensive attention because of its potential to mitigate the global energy crisis and environmental problem. The implementation of efficient H2 production strongly relies on stable, active, and low-cost photocatalysts. In this work, we report the designed synthesis of macroporous ZnO/ZnS/CdS composite spheres as a highly active photocatalyst for H2 production via solar-driven water splitting. The composite spheres were synthesized by a facile solvothermal reaction paired with controllable ion-exchange processes. The resulting material exhibits superior photocatalytic activity, delivering a high H2 production rate of ~11.37 mmol h−1 g−1 under light illumination (250–780 nm, with an ultraviolet light intensity of 34 mW cm−2 and visible light intensity of 158 mW cm−2). Such performance enhancement can be mainly ascribed to the synergic effects of the composite structure: (1) formation of coherent ZnO/CdS and ZnS/CdS heterojunctions at nanoscale, facilitating charge separation of photoinduced electron/hole pairs, (2) highly accessible inner surface of the meso/macroporous ZnO/ZnS/CdS composites for rapid mass transfer of electrolyte, and (3) enhanced visible light scattering capability induced by their large particle size.

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Acknowledgements

B. L. Su acknowledges the Chinese Central Government for an “Expert of the State” position in the Program of the “Thousand Talents.” H. E. Wang and Y. Li acknowledge the Hubei Provincial Department of Education for the “Chutian Scholar” program. H. E. Wang also thanks China Scholarship Council (CSC) for supporting as a Visiting Scholar at University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. This work is supported by Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT_15R52), the National Key Research Program of China (2016YFA0202602), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51302204), and International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China (2015DFE52870).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Runlin Zhang, Jiwei Xie, Chao Wang, Jing Liu, Xianfeng Zheng, Yu Li, Xiaoyu Yang, Hong-En Wang & Bao-Lian Su

  2. Laboratory of Inorganic Materials Chemistry (CMI), University of Namur, 61 rue de Bruxelles, 5500, Namur, Belgium

    Bao-Lian Su

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  1. Runlin Zhang
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  2. Jiwei Xie
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  3. Chao Wang
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Correspondence to Hong-En Wang or Bao-Lian Su.

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Zhang, R., Xie, J., Wang, C. et al. Macroporous ZnO/ZnS/CdS composite spheres as efficient and stable photocatalysts for solar-driven hydrogen generation. J Mater Sci 52, 11124–11134 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1130-6

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