A novel I-type 0D/0D ZnS/Ag6Si2O7 heterojunction for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

The rapid recombination of photoinduced charge carriers and poor redox ability seriously hinder the photocatalytic activity. In this study, a novel 0D/0D ZnS/Ag6Si2O7 heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully prepared by a simple hydrothermal-calcination method, and its structure, morphology, etc. were characterized. The experimental results show that the photocatalytic performance of pure ZnS nanoparticles is very weak. However, the addition of Ag6Si2O7 greatly improves the photocatalytic performance, and the maximum hydrogen evolution within 4 h is 524 mu molg- 1h- 1, which is about 5 times of the original ZnS. The enhanced mechanism of high activity and high stability was studied by various characterization techniques. It was revealed that the construction of 0D/0D heterojunction and the close interfacial contact between ZnS and Ag6Si2O7 could accelerate the transfer and separation of photoexcited e--h+ pairs, which can also improve its photocatalytic performance. In addition, the reasonable mechanism of improving photocatalytic activity was discussed, which also provides new insights for the design and application of 0D/0D heterojunction photocatalyst in the field of photocatalysis.

Automated summary

A novel 0D/0D ZnS/Ag6Si2O7 heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully prepared by a simple hydrothermal-calcination method, and its structure and morphology were characterized. The results showed that the addition of Ag6Si2O7 greatly enhanced the photocatalytic performance of ZnS nanoparticles. The construction of 0D/0D heterojunction and the close interfacial contact between ZnS and Ag6Si2O7 accelerated the transfer and separation of photoexcited e--h+ pairs, leading to improved photocatalytic performance.