Preparation of Mn0.8Cd0.2S/NiCo2S4 Z-scheme heterojunction composite for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production

The construction of heterojunction is an effective and controllable method to improve the photocatalytic decomposition of water to produce hydrogen by semiconductor photocatalyst . In this paper, NiCo 2 S 4 yolk-shell nanospheres and Mn 0.8 Cd 0.2 S nanoparticles were synthesised by solvothermal and hydrothermal methods , and then Mn 0.8 Cd 0.2 S nanoparticles were loaded onto the surface of NiCo 2 S 4 to form a dense Z-scheme heterojunction . Without precious metals as cocatalysts, the maximum hydrogen production of the optimized Mn 0.8 Cd 0.2 S/NiCo 2 S 4 reached 21.41 mmol·g −1 ·h −1 . The morphology, structure and optical properties of the prepared samples were characterized, and the experimental results and theoretical calculations showed that Mn 0.8 Cd 0.2 S/NiCo 2 S 4 with Z-scheme heterojunction could improve the efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen production by effectively transferring and separating the photogenerated electrons and holes.