Article

Efficient Visible-Light Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution and Enhanced Photostability of Core/Shell CdS/g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>Nanowires

Jiye ZhangKey Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, ChinaYonghao WangKey Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, ChinaJian JinState Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Material Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Luoshi Road 122#, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, ChinaJun ZhangKey Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, ChinaZhang LinState Key Lab of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, ChinaFeng HuangKey Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, ChinaJiaguo YuState Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Material Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Luoshi Road 122#, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China

2013en

ABI

Abstract

CdS/g-C3N4 core/shell nanowires with different g-C3N4 contents were fabricated by a combined solvothermal and chemisorption method and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electronic microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and UV-vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy. The photocatalytic hydrogen-production activities of these samples were evaluated using Na2S and Na2SO3 as sacrificial reagents in water under visible-light illumination (λ≥420 nm). The results show that after a spontaneous adsorption process g-C3N4 is successfully coated on CdS nanowires with intimate contact and can significantly improve the photocatalytic hydrogen-production rate of CdS nanowires, which reaches an optimal value of up to 4152 μmol h(-1) g(-1) at the g-C3N4 content of 2 wt %. More importantly, g-C3N4 coating can substantially reinforce the photostability of CdS nanowires even in a nonsacrificial system. The synergic effect between g-C3N4 and CdS, which can effectively accelerate the charge separation and transfer corrosive holes from CdS to robust C3N4, was proposed to be responsible for the enhancement of the photocatalytic activity and photostability. The possible conditions necessary for the synergic effect to work in a CdS/g-C3N4 core/shell configuration is also discussed.

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1021/am403327g

Citations and references

Cited by 20 references

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