Promoted visible-light-driven H2 production over hydrothermally synthesized YVO4 nanorods coupled with Pt/AgInS2 nanospheres

Abstract

The curiosity of hydrogen (H2) production has become a vital substitute energy resource due to its lightweight, green, and renewability. The photocatalytic production of H2 from water over nanostructured semiconductors is a talented route. This study aims to synthesize yttrium vanadate (YVO4) nanorods by hydrothermal approach coupled with different amounts of tiny silver indium sulfide (AgInS2) nanospheres at 5.0–20.0 wt%). All samples were applied for visible-light photocatalytic evolution of H2 in a water-glycerol mixture. Physicochemical description of the prepared specimens exposes the impact of adding AgInS2 on structure, surface, and light harvesting properties. The addition of 15.0 wt% AgInS2 on YVO4's has slightly reduced the specific surface area from 170 to 160 m2 g−1, while the visible light absorbance is pointedly improved due to the significant bandgap energy reduction from 3.67 to 2.49 eV. The photogenerated H2 over 15% AgInS2/YVO4 and trace Pt deposits reached 3.344 mmol g−1h−1, which continued its recyclability for five runs at 96%. This effectual photogenerated H2 evolution is ascribed to the wide-ranged light absorbance and the efficient charge separation between AgInS2 and YVO4.