Heterojunction architecture of Ce2S3 nanocubes with ZnxCd1-xS photocatalyst enables efficient hydrogen evolution

Heterojunction coupling with narrow bandgap semiconductor can effectively promote light absorption, inhibits photoinduced carrier recombination and enhances redox performance. Herein, a novel Ce2S3 nanocube was synthesized via a high-temperature sulfating method, then ZnxCd1-xS (ZCS) was grown on Ce2S3 cube to form a tight junction for the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) activity. The experimental results confirm that this novel composite vastly boosts the redox performance due to superior visible light absorbance, narrow bandgap and fast charge carrier separation via a Z-scheme mechanism. Consequently, the optimized Ce2S3/ZCS composite presents the best PHE rate of 35.35 mmol h−1 g−1 without an obvious reduction in efficiency for cycling experiments, which has a 4.8-fold increase over Pt/ZCS. This strategy proposes a novel method for optimizing ZCS-based photocatalysis by introducing Ce2S3 component to improve the property of PHE.