Oxygen defects coupled with LSPR effect for enhancing photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of Z-scheme 1D@2D/2D WO2.72/ZnIn2S4 composites

Reasonable construction of multifunction Z-type heterojunction is the key to improve the ability of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Herein, we designed the Z-scheme heterojunctions coupled with efficient defect introduction and local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect from ultrathin ZnIn2S4 nanosheets (2D) grown on the surface of ball-flower like WO2.72 (WO) using an easy oil bath method. The ball-flower like WO material was composed of nanoneedles (1D) and nanosheets (2D), which was beneficial for growing ZnIn2S4 nanosheets to form 1D@2D/2D WOZIS-x photocatalysts. The photocatalytic H2-production performances of WOZIS-x with various mass ratios were explored under visible LED light. Through adjusting the mass of WO, the WOZIS-3 composite showed much higher hydrogen evolution performance than pure ZIS up to the rate of 8.12 mmol·g−1·h−1 and good hydrogen evolution ability under pure water. The multipurpose Z-scheme heterojunction can obtain hot electrons and localized electric field (LEF) from LSPR effect caused by oxygen vacancies, which could accelerate the spatial segregation of carries and improve the light absorption range and intensity. The development of multipurpose Z-type WOZIS heterojunction provide an interesting thought to take full advantage of WO with oxygen vacancy and LSPR characteristic and improve the hydrogen evolution ability of ZIS.