Interstitial P-Doped CdS with Long-Lived Photogenerated Electrons for Photocatalytic Water Splitting without Sacrificial Agents

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from pure water is successfully realized by using interstitial P-doped CdS with rich S vacancies (CdS-P) as the photocatalyst in the absence of any electron sacrificial agents. Through interstitial P doping, the impurity level of S vacancies is located near the Fermi level and becomes an effective electron trap level in CdS-P, which can change dynamic properties of photogenerated electrons and thus prolong their lifetimes. The long-lived photogenerated electrons are able to reach the surface active sites to initiate an efficient photocatalytic redox reaction. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of CdS-P can be further improved through the loading of CoP as a cocatalyst.