Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution over Sea-Urchin-Structure NiCoP Decorated ZnCdS Photocatalyst

Developing low-cost and high-catalytic photocatalysts is momentous to achieve efficient photocatalytic splitting of water to produce hydrogen. In this study, a 0D-3D structure ZnCdS-NiCoP composite was synthesized by a simple physical mixing method. A series of characterization results show that the close bonding of ZnCdS nanoparticles and NiCoP nanorods is conducive to electron transfer between the ZnCdS and NiCoP interface. The sea-urchin-structure NiCoP composed of nanorods could be as an electron acceptor to accelerate the directed migration of electrons. Thereby achieving separation of electrons and holes in space. Sea-urchin-structure NiCoP provides spatial support for ZnCdS, greatly reducing the degree of agglomeration of ZnCdS nanoparticles and increasing the specific surface area of the catalyst. The performance of the visible-light-driven photocatalyst showed that the ZnCdS-NiCoP10 composite had the highest photocatalytic hydrogen production activity, and the amount of hydrogen evolution in the reaction for 5 h was 789.7 mu mol, which reached 5.2 times that of pure ZnCdS. The apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of the ZnCdS-NiCoP10 composite was 6.28% at a wavelength of 475 nm. After 5 cycles of reaction, the composite ZnCdS-NiCoP10 maintained long-term stability. Based on the characterization analysis results, a possible mechanism of hydrogen production of by ZnCdS-NiCoP composite catalyst is proposed, which will help to understand the enhance photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity of ZnCdS-NiCoP and may stimulate the synthesis of other 0D-3D catalytic systems. [GRAPHICS]