Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution from Water Splitting Using Core-Shell Structured Cu/ZnS/COF Composites

Hydrogen is considered to be a very efficient and clean fuel since it is a renewable and non-polluting gas with a high energy density; thus, it has drawn much attention as an alternative fuel, in order to alleviate the issue of global warming caused by the excess use of fossil fuels. In this work, a novel Cu/ZnS/COF composite photocatalyst with a core-shell structure was synthesized for photocatalytic hydrogen production via water splitting. The Cu/ZnS/COF microspheres formed by Cu/ZnS crystal aggregation were covered by a microporous thin-film COF with a porous network structure, where COF was also modified by the dual-effective redox sites of C=O and N=N. The photocatalytic hydrogen production results showed that the hydrogen production rate reached 278.4 mu mol g(-1) h(-1), which may be attributed to its special structure, which has a large number of active sites, a more negative conduction band than the reduction of H+ to H-2, and the ability to inhibit the recombination of electron-hole pairs. Finally, a possible mechanism was proposed to effectively explain the improved photocatalytic performance of the photocatalytic system. The present work provides a new concept, in order to construct a highly efficient hydrogen production catalyst and broaden the applications of ZnS-based materials.

Automated summary

Hydrogen is a sustainable and clean fuel that has attracted attention as an alternative to fossil fuels for alleviating global warming. The novel Cu/ZnS/COF composite photocatalyst demonstrated efficient hydrogen production due to its unique core-shell structure and abundant active sites.