Abstract
Abstract Constructing sustainable and efficient photocatalyst for solar hydrogen evolution via photocatalytic (PC) or photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) water splitting is considered as one of the most potential solutions for the contemporary energy crisis. In this study, we synthesized a film-like photocatalyst ZnO-CdS(Ar)@Ni with one-dimensional (1D) nanorod arrays of ZnO-CdS heterojunction anchoring on three-dimensional (3D) Ni foam. The ZnO-CdS(Ar)@Ni photocatalyst not only exhibited higher PC hydrogen generation rate (16.31 µmol cm−2 h−1) than that of precursor samples, but could also be used as a photoelectrode to achieve efficient PEC water splitting on the basis of the applied bias photo-to-current conversion efficiency (ABPE) of 2.0% (at −0.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl) and the incident photo-to-current efficiency (IPCE) of 35% (at 450 nm), respectively. Such enhanced performances relate to the cohesive combination of ZnO-CdS heterojunction via calcination, more active areas in the 1D nanorod structure combining with 3D Ni foam substrate, and the collection and rapid transfer of electrons within Ni foam. This study demonstrates such a strategy of film-like photocatalyst construction has great potential for practical utilization in both PC and PEC systems for renewable energy generation.
Published Version
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