A facile strategy for fabricating particle-on-flower Au-Cu3BiS3 nanostructures for enhanced photoelectrocatalytic activity in water splitting

The design of highly efficient and stable photoelectrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is critical to the large-scale application of clean hydrogen energy. Here, Cu3BiS3 nanoflowers (NFs) with photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity were synthesized via a solvothermal method under mild and low-toxic reaction conditions, and the Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) were loaded onto Cu3BiS3 NFs to improve the photoelectrocatalytic performance. Compared with pure Cu3BiS3 NFs, Au-Cu3BiS3 composites (A@C) exhibit a much higher photocurrent density (2 × 10−4 A cm−2) and greatly enhanced photoelectrocatalytic activity (2.31 μmol h−1), which are attributed to the enhancement in electron capture abilities, active sites and visible light absorption from the localized surface plasmon resonance effect (LSPR) of Au NPs. Furthermore, the excellent conductivity of Au NPs can effectively accelerate the separation and collection of photogenerated carriers. This work highlights a feasible strategy to improve the PEC activity of the Cu3BiS3 photoelectrocatalyst, and confirms the great potential of Au-Cu3BiS3 composites for hydrogen evolution applications.