Constructing stable type-II NaLiTi3O7/La2S3 heterojunctions for efficient photocatalytic charge separation and hydrogen production

Designing titanium-based oxides with efficient photogenerated carrier separation is an essential approach to enhance their photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. ALiTi3O7 possesses excellent stability, corrosion resistance, and non-toxicity. More importantly, its stoichiometry can be changed along with the variations in A-site elements and Li content, leading to tunable redox potentials of the conduction band minimum (CBM) and valence band maximum (VBM). Exploring the possible application of such materials in the field of photocatalysis is crucial for developing novel and efficient titanium-based photocatalysts. As a member of the family, NaLiTi3O7 (NLT) has a large bandgap, limiting its application as visible light photocatalyst. To address this issue, non-toxic La2S3 (LS) narrow-bandgap semiconductor was incorporated to form a heterojunction. The characterization techniques have revealed the structural and interfacial characteristics of the NLT-LS heterojunction, while the Infrared, Raman, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and work-function tests elucidated the influence of the interface interaction on charge carrier separation mechanism. The test results further demonstrated that the formation of a type II heterojunction facilitated the transfer of photogenerated electrons from the conduction band of LS to the conduction band of NLT under light radiation. Simultaneously, the induced holes were confined to the valence band of LS. This charge transfer characteristic significantly improved the separation efficiency of the photogenerated carriers in the heterojunction, ultimately resulting in a photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of 102.4 μmol h−1 g−1 for the NLT-LS2 sample, which is ∼8 times higher than that of pure NLT and almost no decay after four cycles.