Enhanced Z-scheme visible light photocatalytic hydrogen production over α-Bi2O3/CZS heterostructure

Abstract

Depletion of fossil fuels and associated environmental issues has drawn attention of researchers to renewable energy resources and photocatalytic hydrogen production is considered to be safe and applicable method to meet future energy demand. Herein, we have used α-Bi2O3 nanorods for loading CZS (Cd0.5Zn0.5S) to form a heterostructure for photocatalytic H2 production. The α-Bi2O3/CZS heterostructure was characterized through TEM, Elemental Mapping, XRD and XPS analysis. The α-Bi2O3/CZS heterostructure shows photocatalytic H2 production rate of 254.1 μmol h−1 with apparent quantum yield of 6.8% (λ = 420 nm). The enhanced photocatalytic performance was supported by transient photocurrent response curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results which suggest the efficient charge separation and electron mobility in α-Bi2O3/CZS heterostructure. The intimate contact formed between α-Bi2O3 nanorods and CZS nanoparticles responsible for the efficient flow of electrons following a Z-scheme pattern resulting in higher photocatalytic H2 production. Moreover, the as-synthesized α-Bi2O3/CZS heterostructure shows negligible loss of activity after 4 consecutive recycling cycles. Our findings open new possibilities for the design of heterostructure based photocatalysts.