Solar-driven photocatalytic hydrogen evolution is important to bring solar-energy-to-fuel energy-conversion processes to reality. However, there is a lack of highly efficient, stable, and non-precious photocatalysts, and catalysts not designed completely with expensive noble metals have remained elusive, which hampers their large-scale industrial application. Herein, for the first time, a highly efficient and stable noble-metal-free CdS/WS -MoS nanocomposite was designed through a facile hydrothermal approach. When assessed as a photocatalyst for water splitting, the CdS/WS -MoS nanostructures exhibited remarkable photocatalytic hydrogen-evolution performance and impressive durability. An excellent hydrogen evolution rate of 209.79 mmol g h was achieved under simulated sunlight irradiation, which is higher than the values for CdS/MoS (123.31 mmol g h ) and CdS/WS nanostructures (169.82 mmol g h ) and the expensive CdS/Pt benchmark catalyst (34.98 mmol g h ). The apparent quantum yield reached 51.4 % at λ=425 nm in 5 h. Furthermore, the obtained hydrogen evolution rate was better than those of several noble-metal-free catalysts reported previously. The observed high rate of hydrogen evolution and remarkable stability may be a result of the ultrafast separation of photogenerated charge carriers and transport between the CdS nanorods and the WS -MoS nanosheets, which thus increases the number of electrons involved in hydrogen production. The proposed designed strategy is believed to potentially open a door to the design of advanced noble-metal-free photocatalytic materials for efficient solar-driven hydrogen production.
A facile, green protocol for the synthesis of self-assembled 3D porous ZnS-graphene aerogels (ZnS-GAs)using vitamin-C to obtain a 3D network of supramolecular hybrid nanostructured materials was developed.Structural, morphological, and optical measurements demonstrate that the ZnS-GAs nanostructures have good crystallinity, and the graphene nanosheets are densely decorated by ZnS nanostructures. The photocatalytic properties of ZnS-GAs were assessed based on photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) and Cr(VI) under simulated sunlight irradiation. Superior photocatalytic performance was achieved with the ZnS-GAs compared to bare ZnS. This enhancement is ascribed to efficient charge transfer from ZnS to the graphene sheets. Overall, the present work provides new insight into the green synthesis of 3D ZnS-GAs, and the developed composites are highly active photocatalysts with stable cycling that can be exploited in environmentally friendly applications.
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