Direct Z-scheme high-entropy metal phosphides/ZnIn2S4 heterojunction for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution is a reliable way to mitigate the energy crisis. In this work, ZnIn 2 S 4 , which has great development prospects, is selected as the photocatalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. At the same time, in order to improve the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of ZnIn 2 S 4 , a novel high-entropy metal phosphide (HEMP) catalyst with abundant active sites was compounded with ZnIn 2 S 4 . The designed direct Z-scheme HEMP/ZnIn 2 S 4 , heterojunction demonstrated outstanding photocatalytic activity and superior stability for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The 10% HEMP-0/ZnIn 2 S 4 sample exhibited the best photocatalytic performance with a hydrogen evolution rate of 4630.21 μmol h −1 g −1 , which is 3.29 times higher than that of pure ZnIn 2 S 4 . The excellent photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the accelerated reaction kinetics, the accumulation of electrons and holes with strong reduction and oxidation abilities and the inhibition of photogenerated electron-hole pairs of the Z-scheme heterojunction. This work achieved the first application of high-entropy metal phosphides in the field of photocatalysis , not only offering a new strategy to optimize the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of ZnIn 2 S 4 but also paving the way for the application of high-entropy materials in photocatalysis.