Photoreforming of Waste Plastics into H2 Using Zn x Cd1- x S Nanoplates Synthesized via Cation Exchange Reactions

Solar-driven photoreforming of plastic waste into hydrogen offers a promising solution to simultaneously address environmental pollution and sustainable fuel production. However, developing efficient visible-light photocatalysts that couple plastic oxidation with proton reduction for green H2 generation is still a challenge. Herein, a series of ZnxCd1-xS (ZCS) nanoplates (NPs) is rationally synthesized via a cation exchange strategy with Cu1.8S NPs serving as sacrificial templates and used for efficient evolution of H2 from waste plastic. Among these, ZCS-5 NPs achieve an optimal balance between visible-light absorption and redox driving force, delivering a high hydrogen evolution rate of 39.81 mol g-1 h-1 under visible light, outperforming their binary CdS and ZnS NPs. Notably, ZCS-5 NPs also enabled efficient photoreforming of plastic substrates, achieving H2 evolution rates of 14.98 and 2.28 mol g-1 h-1 from polylactic acid and polyethylene terephthalate under mild aqueous conditions, respectively. Overall, this work presents a potential approach for solar-driven plastic upcycling and green hydrogen generation.