CuInZnS-decorated graphene nanosheets for highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production

Abstract

Photocatalytic H2 production from water splitting using semiconductor photocatalysts has attracted much attention due to the increasing global energy crisis. In the past few decades, numerous photocatalysts have been proposed, however, it is still a challenge to develop highly active photocatalysts for water splitting under visible light. Here we report a new composite material consisting of Cu0.02In0.3ZnS1.47 (CIZS) nanospheres and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets as a highly active photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution under visible light. These composites were prepared through a solvothermal method in which rGO nanosheets served as a supporting material to load CIZS nanospheres. The nanocomposites demonstrated a high H2 production rate of 3.8 mmol h−1 g−1, which is about 1.84 times that of pure CIZS nanospheres under visible-light irradiation. The high H2 production rate arose from the presence of graphene, which served as an electron collector and transporter to efficiently lengthen the lifetime of photogenerated charge carriers from CIZS nanospheres. This study presents an effective approach to synthesize graphene-based nanocomposites in the field of energy conversion.