Rapid Microwave Irradiation Synthesis and Photoelectrochemical Performance of Cu3BiS3 Nanoparticles

A photocatalytic material with high performance and low cost plays a decisive role in the industrialization of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. In this work, Cu3BiS3 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by the microwave irradiation method, and the formation mechanism of Cu3BiS3 was studied. The Cu3BiS3 was a nanorod structure with 122 nm diameter and 41 nm length. The band gap was 1.31 eV and the EVB was located at 0.15 eV from the Mott-Schottky analysis. The Cu3BiS3 electrode exhibited an excellent HER performance with an onset potential of 870 mV, a Tafel slope of 251.07 mV/dec. And the charge transfer resistance (Rct) of Cu3BiS3 electrode was 7.2 Ω. The electrode also revealed the good photoelectric response ability. The electrode also revealed the good photoelectric response ability and good stability by time course of the photocurrents. This work provided a fast, low-cost method to prepare the Cu3BiS3 for photocatalysis water splitting.