Enhancement of Photocatalytic Hydrogen Peroxide Production through Zn-Activated Sites in CdS Nanomaterials

Photocatalytic production of H 2 O 2 has garnered increasing attention owing to its benefits of low energy consumption, minimal risk, and good environment. Utilizing solar chemical energy conversion for H 2 O 2 production represents a promising strategy. In this paper, Zn was introduced into CdS via a one-step hydrothermal method. The experimental characterization results of XPS and XRD prove that zinc was successfully introduced into CdS. According to density functional theory (DFT) calculation results, electrons accumulate at the Zn site following Zn introduction, suggesting that Zn emerges as a novel active site upon its introduction. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples for H 2 O 2 production was tested under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic H 2 O 2 ' production activity of the Zn-CdS-0.1 sample with the best activity reached 55 mmol · L -1 · g -1 under 60 minutes of irradiation. This value is approximately 2.4 times higher than that of pure CdS (22.5 mmol · L -1 · g -1 ) and 20.4 times higher than that of pure ZnS (2.7 mmol · L -1 · g -1 ). Through EPR spectroscopy, i-t, and EIS measurements, it was confirmed that Zn-introduced CdS exhibits higher charge carrier separation efficiency, thereby enhancing the performance of photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production. This study provides a novel strategy for constructing surface active sites on CdS photocatalysts to enhance photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production.