Synergistic effect based NixCo1-x architected Zn0.75Cd0.25S nanocrystals: An ultrahigh and stable photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution from water splitting

Construction of functional photocatalysts with ultrahigh photocatalytic hydrogen evolution using solar energy is still a serious challenge for scientific researchers. Here, recently, a facile chemical reduction method is developed to synthesize NixCo1-x/Zn0.75Cd0.25S nanohybrid photocatalysts, a kind of promising smart material with optimizing H2 evolution rate being 0.21 mol h−1 g−1 under simulated solar light irradiation with an apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 13.3% at 365 nm, an ultrahigh H2 evolution rate among almost all the semiconductor-based photocatalysts. More importantly, the NixCo1-x/Zn0.75Cd0.25S photocatalyst shows a sufficient stability property for >20 h. The pronounced synergistic effect between non-noble-metals of Ni and Co boosts the transfer and separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs, and a synergistic catalytic mechanism has been proposed and studied in detail.