Preparation of Z‐Type Co2SnO4/Mn0.5Cd0.5S Heterojunction for Efficient Piezo‐Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

ABSTRACT Although conversion of solar‐energy for catalytic water splitting into H2 is promising technology, the sluggish charge separation in photocatalytic process severely restricts the activity. Combining the piezoelectric effect of piezoelectric materials with the load cocatalyst strategy can effectively modulate the transport behavior of carriers. Herein, a novel and efficient Co2SnO4 cocatalyst is loaded onto MnxCd1‐xS (x = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7) piezoelectric material to form a heterostructure for piezo‐photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. To the best of our knowledge, Co2SnO4 has not been reported as a cocatalyst in the field of piezoelectric photocatalysis. The 7% Co2SnO4/Mn0.5Cd0.5S (CSO/MCS) exhibits excellent piezoelectric‐photocatalytic hydrogen production rate (29.86 mmol/g/h) under the condition of light coupling ultrasound, which is significantly superior to piezoelectric catalysis (128.35 μmol/g/h) and photocatalysis (9.25 mmol/g/h). The built‐in electric field in Mn0.5Cd0.5S piezo‐photocatalyst and the Z‐type heterojunction made up of the tight connection of Co2SnO4 and Mn0.5Cd0.5S both promote the carrier separation efficiency, thereby improving the catalytic reaction performance. This work manifests a promising approach to design heterojunction catalysts for efficient renewable fuel production by capturing solar and mechanical energy.