Dual-functional marigold-like Zn Cd1S homojunction for selective glucose photoreforming with remarkable H2 coproduction

The global commitment to pivoting to sustainable energy and products calls for technology development to utilize solar energy for hydrogen (H2) and value-added chemicals production by biomass photoreforming. Herein, a novel dual-functional marigold-like ZnxCd1-xS homojunction has been the production of lactic acid with high-yield and H2 with high-efficiency by selective glucose photoreforming. The optimized Zn0.3Cd0.7S exhibits outstanding H2 generation (13.64 mmol h−1 g−1), glucose conversion (96.40%), and lactic acid yield (76.80%), over 272.80 and 19.21 times higher than that of bare ZnS (0.05 mmol h−1 g−1) and CdS (0.71 mmol h−1 g−1) in H2 generation, respectively. The marigold-like morphology provides abundant active sites and sufficient substrates accessibility for the photocatalyst, while the specific role of the homojunction formed by hexagonal wurtzite (WZ) and cubic zinc blende (ZB) in photoreforming biomass has been demonstrated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Glucose is converted to lactic acid on the WZ surface of Zn0.3Cd0.7S via the photoactive species O2−, while the H2 is evolved from protons (H+) in H2O on the ZB surface of Zn0.3Cd0.7S. This work paves a promising road for the production of sustainable energy and products by integrating photocatalysis and biorefine.