Converting water into hydrogen fuel and oxidizing benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde simultaneously under visible light illumination is of great significance, but the fast recombination of photogenerated carriers in photocatalysts seriously decreases the conversion efficiency. Herein, a novel dual-functional 0D Cd0.5Zn0.5S/2D Ti3C2 hybrid was fabricated by a solvothermally in-situ generated assembling method. The Cd0.5Zn0.5S nano-spheres with a fluffy surface completely and uniformly covered the ultrathin Ti3C2 nanosheets, leading to the increased Schottky barrier (SB) sites due to a large contact area, which could accelerate the electron—hole separation and improve the light utilization. The optimized Cd0.5Zn0.5S/Ti3C2 hybrid simultaneously presents a hydrogen evolution rate of 5.3 mmol/(g·h) and a benzaldehyde production rate of 29.3 mmol/(g·h), which are ∼3.2 and 2 times higher than those of pristine Cd0.5Zn0.5S, respectively. Both the multiple experimental measurements and the density functional theory (DFT) calculations further demonstrate the tight connection between Cd0.5Zn0.5S and Ti3C2, formation of Schottky junction, and efficient photogenerated electron-hole separation. This paper suggests a dual-functional composite catalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and benzaldehyde production, and provides a new strategy for preventing the photogenerated electrons and holes from recombining by constructing a 0D/2D heterojunction with increased SB sites.
Broad‐spectrum‐driven photocatalysis remains a challenging pursuit for light‐chemical energy conversion. Integrating plasmonic nanostructures with localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect as light absorber onto photocatalyst can realize broad spectral response as well as promote light to energy conversion. Herein, oxygen‐vacancy‐rich W18O49 as plasmon antenna was coupled with CdS to form an S‐scheme CdS/W18O49 heterojunction demonstrating photocatalytic H2 generation activity under a broad‐spectrum light irradiation. Upon exposure to visible light, the CdS/W18O49 heterojunction illustrates the best photocatalytic H2 generation rate of 5.9 mmol g−1 h−1, which is 2.6 times higher than CdS; and its external quantum efficiency achieves 0.17% and 0.05% at 550 and 650 nm, respectively. This activity enhancement is attributed to the enhanced light‐harvesting ability and faster charge separation induced by the LSPR effect of the W18O49 plasmon with rich oxygen vacancies and S‐scheme transfer mechanism. This work will be beneficial to develop non‐metal plasmons assisted broad‐spectrum‐response photocatalysts.
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