Fabrication of H‐TiO2/CdS/Cu2‐xS Ternary Heterostructures for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Abstract

AbstractSolar‐driven photocatalytic water splitting is a promising technology to produce H2 energy. Herein, we demonstrate the fabrication of a ternary catalyst, H‐TiO2/CdS/Cu2‐xS, by chemical bath deposition and ion exchange for efficient photocatalytic water splitting, based on hydrogenated TiO2 (H‐TiO2) with roughened surface and hollow structures. The as‐prepared H‐TiO2/CdS/Cu2‐xS ternary structure can make use of the full solar spectrum and have a better response to the near infrared region. The tuned bandgap alignments in this ternary heterostructure enable efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes, leading to a hydrogen production rate as high as 261.54 μmol⋅g−1⋅h−1 without noble metal as co‐catalyst. Meanwhile, a photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of 210.63 μmol⋅g−1⋅h−1 can be maintained after five cycles. We believe this fabricated noble metal‐free ternary heterostructure catalyst has a great potential in solar energy conversion with improved solar energy absorption and efficient electron‐hole separation.