P-N heterojunction to boost photoelectrochemical H2 evolution of CdS/AgVO3 nanorod arrays photoanode

Cadmium sulfide (CdS), as a potential photoelectrochemical (PEC) photoanode candidate, generally exhibits unsatisfactory hydrogen generation because of the serious recombination of charge carriers and photocorrosion. In this work, a feasible p-n heterostructure CdS/AgVO 3 nanorod arrays (NRAs) photoanode was fabricated by modifying n-type CdS nanorod arrays with p-type AgVO 3 nanoparticles for enhancing PEC hydrogen evolution property of CdS NRAs photoanode. In this p-n heterostructure CdS/AgVO 3 nanorod arrays photoanode, AgVO 3 with narrower band gap not only distinctly heightens the visible light absorption ability of CdS, but also significantly integrates with CdS to establish charge transfer path at CdS and AgVO 3 interface. The built-in electric field of the p-n junction improves the separation and transfer efficiency of photogenerated electrons (e − ) and holes (h + ). The CdS/AgVO 3 NRAs photoanode achieves an evident hydrogen evolution rate of 165.05 μmol cm −2  h −1 , higher than that of bare CdS (121.85 μmol cm −2  h −1 ) NRAs photoanode. This work offers an effective scheme to fabricate photoanode for efficiently turning the solar energy into a green and clean energy.