Influence of lattice integrity and phase composition on the photocatalytic hydrogen production efficiency of ZnS nanomaterials

Ambient S annealing was adopted to regulate the crystallinity of a ZnS microsphere, which resulted in a significant improvement in the photocatalytic hydrogen production activity (PHPA). Moreover, with S ambient treatment, wurtzite ZnS showed better PHPA than sphalerite ZnS, possibly because the inter-polar electric field of the wurtzite phase could promote the separation of photo-excited electron-hole pairs.