Novel and non-precious metal Mn0.43Cd0.57S/ZnSe S-scheme heterojunction with built-in electric fields and high carrier separation efficiency for elevated photocatalytic H2 production

The design of non-precious metal H 2 -producing photocatalysts for photocatalytic H 2 production remains research hotspots for addressing energy shortages and ecological pollution. Herein, by two-step hydrothermal method, a novel and noble-metal-free Mn 0.43 Cd 0.57 S/ZnSe S-scheme heterojunction was resoundingly designed and constructed for efficient photocatalytic H 2 production. Morphological tests revealed ZnSe were deposited on the Mn 0.43 Cd 0.57 S to form a tight contact interface. The H 2 evolution performance over optimal Mn 0.43 Cd 0.57 S/ZnSe was 9136.67 μmol·g −1 ·h −1 , which was severally 22.88 and 2.18 times that of pure ZnSe and Mn 0.43 Cd 0.57 S, and even far exceeded the activity of ZnSe/1%Pt. The enhanced performance of H 2 evolution was resulted from the formed S-scheme heterojunction with built-in electric fields, which could optimize the electron migration pathways for improving charge separation efficiency. This work manifests Mn x Cd 1-x S solid solution could be used as a promising non-noble metal cocatalyst to modify ZnSe for efficient photocatalytic H 2 evolution, which can be extended to modify other selenides.