Photocatalytic reduction of water to hydrogen by CuPbSbS3 nanoflakes

The photocatalyst is a key component of efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) via water splitting. Bournonite CuPbSbS3 has a great application potential in solar-to-energy due to its tremendous semiconductor properties and earth-abundant components. Although CuPbSbS3 has achieved the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.65% in thin-film photovoltaics, its application in PHE via water splitting has been rarely studied. In this work, CuPbSbS3 nanoflakes with dominate (002) facet is fabricated by a facile butyldithiocarbamate acid (BDCA) solution process, which exhibits a PHE rate of 250.8 μmol g−1/h without any co-catalyst under simulated solar irradiation. Density functional theory calculations show that plentiful catalytic sites with low ΔGH∗ are responsible for the high hydrogen evolution reaction performance of CuPbSbS3. This study represents an effective approach to realize photovoltaic-to-photocatalyst hydrogen evolution of Cu-based quaternary chalcogenides.