Regular octahedron Cu-MOFs modifies Mn0.05Cd0.95S nanoparticles to form a S-scheme heterojunction for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Structured efficient and effective photocatalysts was crucial to improve photocatalytic efficiency. In this work, regular octahedron Cu-MOFs and Mn0.05Cd0.95S nanoparticles were adopted to constitute a S-scheme heterojunction. The Cu-MOFs/Mn0.05Cd0.95S (5 wt%) composite exhibited powerful photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity of 547.5 mmol after 5 h under visible light irradiation (lambda > 420 nm), which was ascribed to structure a S-scheme heterojunction brought great redox capacity and efficient separation and transfer of electrons and holes. The SEM and HRTEM results presented close contact of the Cu-MOFs and Mn0.05Cd0.95S. The PL, TRPL, and electrochemical properties further indicated that the composite photocatalysts had competent photocatalytic performance. The UV-vis DRS indicated that the composite catalyst had excellent light absorption capacity. It was confirmed that the composite photocatalysts owned excellent chemical stability by the XPS, FT-TR, and XRD. The S-scheme process can eliminate useless electrons and holes and provide more electrons to participate H-2 evolution reduction. This work contributed new strategy to rational structure heterojunction photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study focused on constructing a S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst using Cu-MOFs and Mn0.05Cd0.95S, which exhibited powerful photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity with efficient electron-hole separation and transfer. Characterization results indicated excellent photocatalytic performance and light absorption capacity, along with chemical stability of the composite catalyst. The S-scheme process demonstrated effective elimination of useless electrons and holes, contributing to a new strategy for rational structure heterojunction photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution.