Synthesis of Ni modified Au@CdS core–shell nanostructures for enhancing photocatalytic coproduction of hydrogen and benzaldehyde under visible light

The development of visible light responsive photocatalysts for simultaneous production of hydrogen (H 2 ) fuel and value-added chemicals is greatly promising to solve the energy and environmental issues by improving the utilization efficiency of solar energy. Herein, the three-component Ni/(Au@CdS) core–shell nanostructures were constructed by the hydrothermal synthesis followed with photodeposition. The intimate integration of plasmonic Au nanospheres and visible-light responsive CdS shells modified with Ni cocatalyst facilitated the generation and separation of electron-hole pairs as well as reduced the overpotential of hydrogen evolution. The Ni/(Au@CdS) photocatalyst exhibited excellent performance toward the selective transformation of benzyl alcohol under anaerobic conditions, and the yields of H 2 and benzaldehyde reached up to 3882 and 4242 μmol·g −1 ·h −1 , respectively. The apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) was determined to be 4.09% under the irradiation of 420 nm. The systematic studies have verified the synergy of plasmonic effect and metal cocatalyst on enhancing the photocatalysis. This work highlights the desirable design and potential application of plasmonic photocatalysts for solar-driven coproduction of H 2 fuel and high-value chemicals.