Advanced three-component ZnO/Ag/CdS nanocomposite photoanode for photocatalytic water splitting

In this work, Ag nanoparticles as co-catalysts are employed to modify the nanoscale ZnO/CdS interface to achieve a ZnO/Ag/CdS nanocomposite photoanode for photocatalytic water splitting. The three-component photoanode exhibits significantly enhanced photoelectrochemical properties as compared with the single-component (ZnO) and two-component (ZnO/Ag or ZnO/CdS) systems. The modification with Ag nanoparticles can significantly enhance the light absorption and facilitate the separation and transport of photogenerated carriers through the localized surface plasma resonance (LPSR) effect. The developed ZnO/Ag/CdS nanocomposite photoanode presents significantly improved water splitting performance, with a high hydrogen productivity up to 3.5 mL h(-1) (similar to 155 umol h(-1)) at + 0.4 V vs. Ag/AgCl electrode with an almost constant rate during 10 h. Even without any external bias, the photoanode can still exhibit a relatively high hydrogen productivity up to 0.5 mL h(-1). Furthermore, the nanocomposite photoanode shows excellent photocorrosion resistance, which is ascribed to a considerable decrease of surface defect density on ZnO nanowires and the reduction of holes. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.