Noble-metal-free CuS/CdS composites for photocatalytic H2 evolution and its photogenerated charge transfer properties

One-pot hydrothermal synthesis of CdS decorated CuS microflower-like structures for enhanced photocatalytic properties

“…28 . In addition, CuS loaded on metal sulfides including ZnS 30, 31 , CdS 29 , even ZnS-CuS-CdS composite 21 , were studied and found possessing high photocatalytic activity toward H 2 generation under visible light irradiation. So far, exploring more efficient CuS-based photocatalyst is still highly desirable because few studies based on CuS as the host coupled with metal sulfides are conducted.…”

“…But, CdS is still worthwhile to be used as a photocatalyst due to its narrow band gap of 2.4 eV, endowing it the extremely feasible feature to absorb light irradiation in visible light range 22, 24, 29 . Therefore, many efforts have been made to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages and various nanostructured CdS materials had been synthesized, such as nanorods 23 , nanoflowers 23 , nanospheres 24 , nanotubes 37 , nanowires 38, 39 , nanosheets 40 , nanocone and nanofrustum 41 etc .…”

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from aqueous solutions of Na2S/Na2SO3 under visible light irradiation on CuS/Cd0.3Zn0.7S and Ni Cd0.3Zn0.7S1+

“…One can see that both Ni z Cd 0.3 Zn 0.7 S 1+z and yCuS/Cd 0.3 Zn 0.7 S photocatalysts have incomplete reflectance in the range of 500-850 nm. CuS is believed to have good absorption in the range of 400-800 nm, while the absorption at 700-800 nm can be assigned to the d-d transition of Cu (II)[22]. Introduction of nickel ions into CdS is also known to red-shift an absorption edge[17].…”

Visible light-driven photocatalytic H2-generation activity of CuS/ZnS composite particles

“…The H 2 generation rate increases with the increasing amount of Cu 2+ , and it reaches a maximum value of 695.7 mmol h À1 g À1 over C0.5ZS. C0.5ZS shows better photocatalytic H 2 production activity than CuS/ZnO [30] and CuS/ CdS [31] from aqueous Na 2 S and Na 2 SO 3 solution. For CuS/ZnS composite, the interface between the two phases can act as a rapid separation site for the photogenerated electrons and holes due to the difference in the energy levels of their conduction bands and valence bands, and thus enhances the photocatalytic activity [8,28,29].…”