Lead-halide perovskites have demonstrated promising performance in the field of photocatalytic hydrogen production. However, the toxicity of lead hinders their application. Herein, an environmentally friendly and lead-free perovskite (CH3NH3)3Bi2I9 was prepared by employing a simple and efficient hydrothermal route. It is found that (CH3NH3)3Bi2I9 exhibits excellent phase stability in hydriodic acid with different concentrations. Under visible light irradiation, it showed satisfactory cycle stability after 70 h of repeated H2 evolution without any degradation or oxidization. After using platinum as a cocatalyst, the photocatalytic rate for H2 evolution is about 169.21 μmol g–1 h–1, resulting in 14 times enhancement compared with the pristine one (about 12.19 μmol g–1 H–1 with 40 mg initial amount) and a solar-to-chemical conversion efficiency of 0.48%. Our research opens new possibilities for the application of lead-free perovskites in the field of photocatalysis.

Lead-free, all-inorganic copper based perovskite Cs2CuX4 (X = Cl, Br, and Br/I) quantum dots were synthesized and investigated for the first time.

Heterojunction photocatalysts are widely adopted for efficient water splitting, but ion migration can seriously threaten the stability of heterojunctions, as with the well-known low stability of CdS-Cu2–x S due to intrinsic Cu+ ion migration. Here, we utilize Cu+ migration to design a stratified CdS-Cu2–x S/MoS2 photocatalyst, in which CuI@MoS2 (CuI-intercalated within the MoS2 basal plane) is created by Cu+ migration and intercalation to the adjacent MoS2 surface. The epitaxial vertical growth of the CuI@MoS2 nanosheets on the surface of one-dimensional core–shell CdS-Cu2–x S nanorods forms catalytic and protective layers to simultaneously enhance catalytic activity and stability. Charge transfer is verified by kinetics measurements with femtosecond time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy and direct mapping of the surface charge distribution with a scanning ion conductance microscope. This design strategy demonstrates the potential of utilizing hybridized surface layers as effective catalytic and protective interfaces for photocatalytic hydrogen production.

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Sb-based lead-free double perovskite Cs2AgSbX6 (X = Cl, Br or I) quantum dots exhibiting excellent air stability and blue emission with photoluminescence quantum yields of 31.33% were synthesized firstly using surfactant-assisted method.

Colloidal MnxCd1−xS nanorods as highly efficient H2 generation photocatalysts were prepared by hot-injection synthesis for the first time.

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Semiconductor plasmonics is a recently emerging field that expands the chemical and physical bandwidth of the hitherto well-established noble metallic nanoparticles. Achieving tunable plasmonics from colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals has drawn enormous interest and is promising for plasmon-related applications. However, realizing this goal of tunable semiconductor nanocrystals is currently still a synthetic challenge. Here, we report a colloidal synthesis strategy for highly dispersed, platelet-shaped, antimony-doped copper sulfide semiconductor nanocrystals (Sb y –Cu x S NCs) with a dominant localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) band tunable from the near-infrared into the midvisible spectral range. This work presents the synthesis and quantifies the resulting plasmonic features. It furthermore elucidates the underlying carrier concentration requirements to realize a continuum of LSPR spectra. Building on our previous work on binary plasmonics Cu x S, Cu x Se, and Cu x Te NCs, the present method introduces a much wider and finer tunability with ternary semiconductor plasmonics.