0D β-Ni(OH)2 nanoparticles/1D Mn0.3Cd0.7S nanorods with rich S vacancies for improved photocatalytic H2 production

Engineering semiconductor materials with vacancies and co-catalysts is a valid method to improve their photocatalytic performance. Herein, we prepared S vacancies-rich Mn0.3Cd0.7S nanorods modified with β-Ni(OH)2 nanoparticles through solvothermal and co-precipitation strategies. The as-obtained 0D/1D β-Ni(OH)2/Mn0.3Cd0.7S nanorods exhibit excellent visible-light H2-production activity up to 71.09 mmol g−1h−1, 5.23 times higher than pure Mn0.3Cd0.7S and better than 1 wt% Pt/Mn0.3Cd0.7S and most reported MnxCd1−xS-based catalysts. The apparent quantum yield reaches 46.68% at λ = 420 nm. We found that the presence of S vacancies and β-Ni(OH)2 enhances the transfer/separation of photogenerated carriers and increases reaction sites, which is beneficial to photocatalytic H2-production reaction. This work proposes a new idea for the application of metal hydroxide co-catalysts and S vacancies in sulfide materials for photocatalytic H2 production.