Cu7S4/MnIn2S4 heterojunction for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen generation

Heterojunction has been considered to be one of the most effective methods for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction by photocatalytic water splitting. In this work, nanostructured Cu7S4/MnIn2S4 heterojunction was successfully fabricated via a simple two-step method, which was much simpler than most heterojunction synthesis. Firstly, Cu7S4 nanoparticles were synthesized by oil bath stirring, and then the Cu7S4/MnIn2S4 heterojunctions were synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The prepared Cu7S4/MnIn2S4 composite exhibited significantly improved hydrogen evolution activity with a rate of 13.81 μmol h−1 (10 mg catalyst), which was approximately 18 times higher than that of pristine MnIn2S4. This result could be attributed to the construction of p-n heterojunction for promoting the separation of photogenerated charge carriers and inhibiting their recombination. Possible electron transfer mechanism was proposed by the related characterization. This work will inspire the simple fabrication of nano-heterojunctions in the future.