Photocatalytic enhancement of hydrogen production in water splitting under simulated solar light by band gap engineering and localized surface plasmon resonance of ZnxCd1-xS nanowires decorated by Au nanoparticles

Abstract Excellent photocatalytic properties for hydrogen production in water splitting under simulated solar light (with AM1.5G filter) with Au nanoparticles (NPs)/ZnxCd1-xS nanowires (NWs) have been demonstrated. The ZnxCd1-xS NWs photocatalyst shows much higher photocatalytic activity for H2-production than ZnS and CdS NWs with Na2S and Na2SO3 as sacrificial reagents. The high photocatalytic H2-production activity, as high as 57.07 mmol g−1h−1, is attributed to appropriate band gap width and suitable conduction band edge potential of the ZnxCd1-xS NWs. The H2-production efficiency was further significantly enhanced to 96.04 mmol g−1h−1 by decorating ZnxCd1-xS NWs with appropriate size and distribution of Au NPs to induce localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) in visible and near infrared region. The work represents significant advance with a totally green and novel approach of enhancing H2-production efficiency in water splitting under simulated solar light (with AM1.5G filter).