Construction of Au/g-C3N4/ZnIn2S4 plasma photocatalyst heterojunction composite with 3D hierarchical microarchitecture for visible-light-driven hydrogen production

Abstract

In this paper, a novel Au/g-C3N4/ZnIn2S4 plasma photocatalyst heterojunction composite with 3D hierarchical microarchitecture has been successfully constructed by integrating Au/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalyst composite with 3D ZnIn2S4 nanosheet through a simple hydrothermal process. The Au nanoparticles were firstly anchored on the surface of pristine g-C3N4 material to get Au/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalyst. Ascribing to the surface plasmon resonance of Au nanoparticles, the obtained Au/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalyst shows a significant improved photocatalytic activity toward hydrogen production from water with visible light response comparing with pristine g-C3N4. Further combining Au/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalyst with 3D ZnIn2S4 nanosheet to construct a heterojunction composite. Owing to the synergistic effect of the surface plasmon resonance of Au nanoparticles in Au/g-C3N4 and the heterojunction structure in the interface of Au/g-C3N4 and ZnIn2S4, the prepared Au/g-C3N4/ZnIn2S4 plasma photocatalyst heterojunction composite shows an excellent photocatalytic activity toward hydrogen production from water with visible light response, which is around 7.0 and 6.3 times higher than that of the pristine C3N4 and Znln2S4 nanosheet, respectively. The present work might provide some insights for exploring other efficient heterojunction photocatalysts with excellent properties.