Bionic construction of a dual Z-scheme MoO3/ZnIn2S4/black phosphorus quantum dots heterojunction with expanded redox surfaces and photoelectron transfer ability for high-efficiency photocatalysis

Z-scheme photocatalyst was researched in recent years due to its bionic electron transfer structure, while there were still challenges on amount of electron-hole pairs and preservation of redox ability in above systems. In this work, a new dual Z-scheme MoO3/ZnIn2S4/black phosphorus quantum dots (MZBP) heterojunction was constructed to solve above problems and employed for photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) evolution. According to the results, the H2 generation efficiency of MZBP reached to 5.45 mmol/g/h under visible light irradiation, which were 10 and 1.6 times higher than that of pure ZnIn2S4 and MoO3/ZnIn2S4 (MZ) material, respectively. The apparent quantum yield (AQY) of MZBP was calculated as 13.2% at 420 nm, indicating its high energy conversion property. In general, the enhanced separation ability of photo-induced carriers and large redox surfaces of dual Z-scheme MZBP system played important roles for enhancement of H2 evolution. According to the high-efficiency H2 evolution performance and significant dual Z-scheme mechanism, the novel heterojunction was promising for more applications in photoelectric fields.