Photocatalytic H2 Production Rate Research Articles

Simultaneous realization of sulfur-rich surface and amorphous nanocluster of NiS1+x cocatalyst for efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution

Transition-metal sulfides have been proved to be a favorable candidate for high-efficiency cocatalyst for photocatalysts, but the major bottlenecks remains lacking sufficient active sites for interfacial H2-generation reactions. In this article, the sulfur-rich NiS1+x nanoclusters with abundant active unsaturated S sites are homogeneously anchored on TiO2 particles by a facile S2O32−-mediated photodeposition route. The as-synthesized NiS1+x/TiO2(1 wt%) photocatalyst achieves the boosted H2 evolution rate of 264.42 μmol h-1 as well as shows an outstanding stability and repeatability. The sulfur-rich NiS1+x nanoclusters can not only act as an outstanding cocatalyst to effectively accelerate the electron migration from TiO2 to NiS1+x nanoclusters, but also provide numerous active unsaturated S sites to promote interfacial H2-generation reaction, thereby promoting the photocatalytic H2-production rate of the NiS1+x/TiO2 photocatalysts. Particularly, the present method can be extended to construct other metal sulfides (AgSx, CoSx or CuSx) to evidently promote the photocatalytic H2-evolution activity.

CuCo2S4 Deposited on TiO2: Controlling the pH Value Boosts Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Metallic spinel‐type CuCo2S4 nanoparticles were deposited on nanocrystalline TiO2 (P25®), forming heterostructure nanocomposites. The nanocomposites were characterized in detail by X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD), high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), nitrogen sorption (BET) and UV/Vis spectroscopy. Variation of the CuCo2S4:TiO2 ratio to an optimum value generated a catalyst which shows a very high photocatalytic H2 production rate at neutral pH of 32.3 µmol/h (0.72 mL h–1), which is much larger than for pure TiO2 (traces of H2). The catalyst exhibits an extraordinary long‐term stability and after 70 h irradiation time about 2 mmol H2 were generated. An increased light absorption and an efficient charge separation for the sample with the optimal CuCo2S4:TiO2 ratio is most probably responsible for the high catalytic activity.

Designed synthesis of a porous ultrathin 2D CN@graphene@CN sandwich structure for superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible light

Graphite carbon nitride (CN) has recently become a promising photocatalyst while challenges still remain due to insufficient visible-light capture and poor electronic property. Herein, a porous ultrathin 2D CN@graphene@CN sandwich structure (5GO-CN) was prepared through in-situ local thermal oxygen erosion strategy. The inner graphene substantially accelerates the migration and separation of photogenerated charge carriers. Moreover, a small amount of oxygen-containing groups in inner graphene layer can effectively fix the thin layer of carbon nitride in the two outer surface layers. With the help of porous structure, spatially separated redox site, excellent visible light capture and fast separation of photoinduced charge carriers, this optimal 5GO-CN composite exhibited 14.3 times higher photocatalytic H2 production rate (5.58 mmol g−1 h−1) than bulk CN. The composition, microstructure and optical property of 5GO-CN sample were thoroughly investigated. This new strategy furnishes an effective way to modify other functional catalysts via using nanostructure design.

Thio linkage between CdS quantum dots and UiO-66-type MOFs as an effective transfer bridge of charge carriers boosting visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)/semiconductor hybrids have attracted attention in photocatalysis. Herein, we report a new strategy to use thiol-laced UiO-66 (UiO-66-(SH)2) as a porous and functional support for anchoring CdS quantum dots (QDs) (size: 0.5/3 nm). Cd2+ ions are firstly absorbed into the cavities of UiO-66-(SH)2 MOFs via coordinating to the thiol groups in the presence of a base to produce UiO-66-(S-Cd)2, then thiourea is added to form UiO-66-(S-CdS)2 (abbreviated as UiOS-CdS). It is clearly revealed by ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy that the thio linkage between UiO-66 and CdS acts as an effective transfer bridge of charge carriers, which greatly promotes the interface transfer process of photogenerated electrons and holes, boosting the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance from water splitting. The optimized UiOS-CdS exhibits a photocatalytic H2 production rate of 153.2 μmol h−1 (10 mg of catalyst) under visible-light irradiation (λ > 420 nm) in the absence of nobel metal co-catalyst, corrsponding to an apparent quantum efficiency of 11.9% at 420 nm. This work may provide an effective strategy to construct QDs-linker-MOFs stylephotocatalysts for efficient energy conversion.

Oxygen vacancy mediated single unit cell Bi2WO6 by Ti doping for ameliorated photocatalytic performance

Crystal defects are crucially important in semiconductor photocatalysis. To improve the reactivity of photocatalysts and attain desirable solar energy conversion, crystal defect engineering has gained considerable attention in real catalysts. Herein, we engineered crystal defects and mediate oxygen vacancies in host Bi2WO6 crystal lattice via varying content of Ti dopant to fabricate single-unit-cell layered structure, resulting in enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic efficiency. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations verified that the substitution of Bi cation in the crystal structure of Bi2WO6 can induce a new defect level, and increase the density of states (DOS) at the valence band maximum, which not only improve the charge dynamic but also the electronic conductivity. Remarkably, the single-unit-cell layers Ti-doped Bi2WO6 structure casts profoundly improved photocatalytic performance towards ceftriaxone sodium degradation, Cr(VI) reduction, and particularly higher photocatalytic H2 production rate, with a 5.8-fold increase compared to bulk Bi2WO6. Furthermore, the photoelectrochemical measurements unveil that the significantly higher charge migration and charge carrier dynamic counts for the elevated photocatalytic performance. After careful examination of experimental results, it was proved that the Ti doping mediated crystal defects, and engendered oxygen vacancies are critically important for controlling the photocatalytic performance of Bi2WO6.

Iodine doped Z-scheme Bi2O2CO3/Bi2WO6 photocatalysts: Facile synthesis, efficient visible light photocatalysis, and photocatalytic mechanism

The Bi-based hierarchical multi-component photocatalytic system is an important player in energy and environmental catalysis due to its full-spectrum light absorption and stable separation of photo-generated charges. In this study, a novel family of iodine doped Bi2O2CO3/Bi2WO6 heterojunctions was successfully developed by a facile ionic liquid assisted solvothermal method. A visible light photocatalytic H2 production rate of 664.5 μmol g−1 h−1 (0.3I-Bi2O2CO3/Bi2WO6 with 3% Pt) has been durably obtained, much higher than those of pristine and undoped counterparts. The photocatalysts are also capable for persistent pollutant and dye degradation. Through electrochemical and spectroscopic tests and density functional theory calculation, the enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to formation of the Z-scheme photocatalyst. Therein, the lowered and indirect bandgap and heterojunctional band alignment spontaneously benefit visible light harvesting, electron-hole pair separation, and proton reduction. Besides a facile synthesis for effective photocatalysis, the Z-scheme mechanism is hoped to facilitate the design and realization of similar systems for photocatalytic H2 evolution and organic hazards decontamination.

Fabrication of rGO/CdS@2H, 1T, amorphous MoS2 heterostructure for enhanced photocatalytic and electrocatalytic activity

The synthesis of high efficiency noble metal free catalysts is an important target for H2 production by water-splitting. In this work, rGO/CdS@MoS2 heterostructure with two catalytic paths was successfully synthesized and as the first applied the heterostructure in the field of electrocatalysis. The MoS2 structure is adjusted by controlling hydrothermal process. Moreover, the effects of structure and loading amount of 2H–MoS2, 1T-MoS2 and amorphous MoS2 (A-MoS2) on catalytic performance were also studied. The catalytic activity of rGO/CdS@MoS2 heterostructure has been improved obviously. Compared with 2H–MoS2, the distortion of 1T-MoS2 and the defect of A-MoS2 make it have more unsaturated S, so rGO/CdS@1T-MoS2 and rGO/CdS@A-MoS2 have better catalytic activity. For photocatalytic H2 evolution, loading MoS2 and rGO on catalysts changes the energy band structure, promotes the separation of electron-holes and provides a large number of active sites. Among them, the visible light photocatalytic H2 production rate of rGO/CdS@1T-MoS2 with 0.1 mol of 1T-MoS2 (CT0.1-G1) is 18.26 mmol/g/h. During the electrocatalytic H2 evolution, introducing MoS2 and rGO improves electronic structure and increases active sites. rGO/CdS@1T-MoS2 with 0.5 mol of 1T-MoS2 (CT0.5-G1) shows the low overpotential (312 mV) and Tafel slopes (85 mV/dec).

Boosting the photocatalytic ability of hybrid biVO4-TiO2 heterostructure nanocomposites for H2 production by reduced graphene oxide (rGO)

Fabricating heterostructures has been recognized as an effective strategy to improve visible-light photocatalytic H2 production performance. Therefore, a simple approach based on combining template-assisted liquid-phase deposition and hydrothermal techniques was introduced to synthesize BiVO4-TiO2/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) heterostructure nanocomposites. The ternary hetero-nanostructures were composed of TiO2 nanotubes, with an average diameter of 100 nm and tens micrometers in length, BiVO4 nanoparticles and various amounts of rGO nanosheets. The highest photocatalytic H2 production rate of 1427.1 μmol.h − 1g − 1 with an apparent quantum yield of 6.4% at 420 nm was achieved at optimum rGO content (3 wt.%) under visible-light irradiation, which was 2.5 and 1.5 times higher than that of TiO2 nanotubes)563.5 μmol.h − 1g − 1) and BiVO4-TiO2 (915.7 μmol.h − 1g − 1), respectively. The excellent enhancing effect of rGO on photocatalytic performance of the heterojunction formed between these materials was attributed to the large surface area, light absorption capacity due to band gap engineering, and separation of photo-generated charge carriers. It demonstrates the design of the ternary BiVO4-TiO2/rGO hetero-nanostructures that was proposed in the present strategy could effectively separate the electron-hole pairs for sustainable photocatalytic H2 production, as was verified by PL, TRF and EIS photospectroscopy measurements.

Template Based Synthesis of Plasmonic Ag‐modified TiO2/SnO2 Nanotubes with Enhanced Photostability for Efficient Visible‐Light Photocatalytic H2 Evolution and RhB Degradation

AbstractIn the present study, ternary photocatalysts of Ag‐modified hybrid TiO2/SnO2 nanotube with varied Ag contents were synthesized by the liquid‐phase deposition method. The morphology, crystal structure and optical properties of ternary photocatalysts have been investigated in detail and compared with those of SnO2, TiO2, and TiO2/SnO2 nanotubes. The photocatalytic activity of the products has also been evaluated based on the degradation of Rhodamine B and H2 production under visible‐light irradiation. It was found that photostable 0.4 Ag‐TiO2/SnO2 nanotubes exhibit the highest photocatalytic H2 production rate of 1304.8 μmol.h−1.g−1 with the maximum apparent quantum yield (AQY) of 6.3%. The improvement in H2 evolution rate and photodegradation efficiency can be attributed to the synergetic effect of SnO2 coupling with TiO2 nanotubes and Ag modification, mainly owning to enlarged light absorption region, efficient separation of charge carriers in hybrid nanotubes, and localization of surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles.

Porous Ni5P4 as a promising cocatalyst for boosting the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction performance

Nonmetallic cocatalysts have demonstrated unprecedented potential for accelerating photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this study, a nickel phosphide compound, namely Ni5P4, with porous carnation-like superstructure has been target-synthesized and then employed as HER cocatalyst to in-situ build a hybrid with protonated g-C3N4 nanosheets via an electrostatic self-assembly method. Owing to the synergistic advantages of the excellent metallic conductivity and porous carnation-like superstructure of Ni5P4, the as-obtained HCN/Ni5P4 Schottky-junction with abundant active sites, low H* atom adsorption energy and efficient charge carrier transport channel, affords the photocatalytic H2 production rate of 1157.5 μmol g−1 h−1 when exposed to visible light (λ > 420 nm). This photocatalytic H2 production rate was much higher than those of the corresponding reference cocatalysts, namely Ni2P and NiS2 (169.1 and 593.1 μmol g−1 h−1, respectively), both of which were derived from the same Ni(OH)2 precursor. This study provides a new idea for the design of highly active noble-metal-free materials for the photocatalytic HER.

The metallic 1T-phase WS2 nanosheets as cocatalysts for enhancing the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of g-C3N4 nanotubes

Herein, we report that 2D metallic 1T-WS2 acts as co-catalyst in assisting g-C3N4 nanotubes (NTs) obtained via a simple grinding method for promoting photocatalytic H2 production. The 1T-WS2/g-C3N4 composite with optimum 27% 1T-WS2 displays a significantly improved photocatalytic H2 production rate (1021 μmol h−1 g−1), 17.6 times higher than g-C3N4 NTs. Besides, the apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 1T-WS2/g-C3N4 composite (27%) achieves 11.23% under light at λ = 370 nm. Meanwhile, the 1T-WS2/g-C3N4 composites present an excellent photocatalytic H2 production stability. The possible photocatalytic mechanism over 1T-WS2/g-C3N4 composites is proposed. Specifically, the photogenerated electrons from 1D g-C3N4 tubular nanostructure with open mesoporous morphology are migrated to conductive 1T-WS2 NSs quickly as electron acceptors along the 1D path. 1T-WS2 NSs can also offer abundant active sites on the edge and basal planes.

Selective formation of interfacial bonding enables superior hydrogen production in organic–inorganic hybrid cocatalyzed photocatalysts

Rational design of cocatalysts on semiconductor photocatalysts holds great promise for boosting the photo-to-electron conversion efficiency. However, constructing favorable interfacial structure facilitating the charge carriers’ transportation in photocatalyst system remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate an organic–inorganic hybrid cocatalyzed photocatalyst with tunable interfacial structure for photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production, where polyaniline (PANI) monolayer and Pt nanoparticles cocatalyzed CdS is a proof-of-concept. The selective formation of adequate interfacial bonding at both the cocatalyst/semiconductor interfaces, and the organic/inorganic cocatalyst interface is the key to promote charge carriers’ transport. The photocatalytic H2 production rate of CdS/PANI-O/Pt-OH with adequate S-C, S-Pt and Pt-N interfacial bonding is 16 times and 84 times that of CdS/PANI-R/Pt-H with much less interfacial bonding and pristine CdS, respectively. And superior apparent quantum efficiency of 92.1% at 440 nm is achieved. This finding opens up a rational approach to understanding and engineering the interfacial structure in various energy conversion systems.

Rationalizing and controlling the phase transformation of semi-metallic 1T′-phase and semi-conductive 2H-phase MoS2 as cocatalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

In this study, we report that the 2D semi-metallic 1T′-MoS2 serves as co-catalyst in assisting 1T′-MoS2/g-C3N4 composites obtained via a one-pot hydrothermal technique for boosting photocatalytic H2 evolution, and the phase transformation from 1T′ to 2H is achieved via thermal treatment. The designed 1T′-MoS2/g-C3N4 composite exhibits significant enhancement than pure g-C3N4 and 2H-MoS2/g-C3N4. The 1T′-MoS2/g-C3N4 composite with optimum 20 wt% 1T′-MoS2 displays a significantly improved photocatalytic H2 production rate (4426 μmol·h−1·g−1), which is about 86.7 and 1.41 times of pure g-C3N4 and 20 wt%–2H-MoS2/g-C3N4 composite, along with excellent stability. Besides, the apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 1T′-MoS2/g-C3N4 composite (20 wt%) achieves 13.55%. 1T′-MoS2 co-catalysts not only serve as effective electron acceptors, but have the merits of the energetically more stable.

Efficient Light Responsive (UCNPs)-Pt@MOF/Au Composites for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution By Harvesting from Extended UV to Near-Infrared

Photocatalytic water splitting by utilizing broadband spectral response from UV to near-infrared (NIR) region is a big challenge and yet a prime target. 50% of the solar spectrum constituted by NIR light and in this work, our target is to increase absorption range from UV-visible to NIR by using (UCNPs)-Pt@MOF/Au composites. In this context, lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are able to convert NIR to UV and visible, which are then harvested by metal-organic framework (MOF) and Au. MOF and plasmonic Au nanoparticles (NPs) broaden the absorption of UV light to a visible region as well as speed up the transfer of charges considerably. For this experiment, we used MIL-125 as a MOF because it is a wide-bandgap semiconductor. The spatial separation of Pt and Au particles by the MOF further steers the charge migration and also provides access to active Pt sites for the catalytic product as a result, the optimized composite exhibits high photocatalytic H2 production rate under UV, visible and NIR regions.

Self-Activation of TiO2 Nanotubes for Photocatalytic H2 Generation

TiO2 and particularly its anatase form, is one of the most widely studied oxide semiconductors for photocatalytic production of H2 from aqueous solutions.In anatase, the conduction band is situated at an energetic position that allows the transfer of photogenerated electrons to aqueous media and thus the conversion of H+ into H2. Moreover, TiO2 provides an almost unique high resistance against chemical and photocorrosion. On the other hand, photocatalytic H2 production from aqueous electrolytes shows very slow kinetics on all TiO2 surfaces. Therefore, typically decoration of titania with co-catalysts is used to accelerate the H2 evolution kinetics. Most effective co-catalysts are costly noble metals, such as Pt, Pd, or Au. Economically it is of great interest to develop means and approaches to reduce the use of such costly co-catalyst. In the presentation, we discuss efficient noble-metal-free approaches for catalyzing photocatalytic hydrogen generation. A particularly interesting approach is provided by defined defect engineering of anatase. Specific shallow Ti3+ states can promote the generation of photocatalytic H2. Most spectacular is that these catalytic sites can be formed by photoinduced reduction. In other words, under suitable illumination conditions it is possible to create, in situ, energetically suitable Ti3+ states that then act as an intrinsic co-catalyst for photocatalytic H2 evolution. As a result, both co-catalytic formation of active sites and photocatalytic H2 formation is observed. I.e., with increasing illumination time, a light‐induced self‐amplification of the photocatalytic H2 production rate occurs. The effect is characterized by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, reflectivity, and photoelectrochemical techniques. The origin of the self‐activation and amplification behavior observed for anatase nanoparticles and nanotubes will be discussed in the presentation.

Metal-free Z-scheme 2D/2D VdW heterojunction for high-efficiency and durable photocatalytic H2 production

Metal-free material is a kind of promising ideal candidate in application of photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production for everlasting direct solar-to-fuel conversion, but a longstanding challenge still is how to achieve the continuously high-efficiency and stable H2 production performance. Herein, metal-free 2D/2D carbon nitride/C-doped BN (CN/BCN) Van der Waals (VdW) heterojunctions are fabricated, and the optimal photocatalytic H2 production rate over them reaches up to 3357.1 µmol h−1 g−1 that far exceeds that of single CN (1298.8 µmol h−1 g−1) under the visible light. Meanwhile, the high apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 16.3% at 420 nm is achieved surprisingly. Moreover, the metal-free 2D/2D CN/BCN VdW heterojunction exhibits the superior stability because H2 production rate has barely reduction when enduring 15 cycle runs with total 60 h. The boosted H2 production performance arises from the formation of Z-Scheme mechanism that dramatically accelerates interfacial transfer and separation of charge carriers. This work furnishes a demonstration model for the tailor-made design and fabrication of other challenging metal-free 2D/2D VdW heterojunctions applied to catalysis, electronics, optoelectronics, etc.

Noble-metal-free CdS/Ni-MOF composites with highly efficient charge separation for photocatalytic H2 evolution

Constructing semiconductor-based photocatalysts with high-performance and excellent stability is a promising approach to achieve optimum photocatalytic H2 production rate from water splitting. In this study, a novel effective visible-light-driven catalyst, namely, CdS/Ni-MOF, has been successfully synthesized by in-situ growth of CdS nanoparticles on the surface of hollow Ni-based metal-organic framework (Ni-MOF) spheres. The heterogeneous interface contact and matched band position promote charge separation. As a noble-metal-free catalyst, the obtained CdS/Ni-MOF composite having an optimal CdS loading of 40 wt.% exhibits a remarkable H2 production rate of 2508 μmol/g/h under visible light, which is about eight times higher than that of single CdS. Ni-MOF serves as a station for the rapid transfer of photo-induced electrons, leading to the high photocatalytic performance. Meanwhile, Ni-MOF comprising highly dispersed Ni2+ catalytic sites also acts as co-catalyst, which is beneficial for hydrogen evolution. Therefore, Ni-MOF functions as both an electron acceptor and a co-catalyst in the photocatalytic H2 production from water. This work highlights the advantages of combining semiconductor and MOF functionalities to fabricate a photocatalyst with enhanced catalytic activity.

Microwave heating preparation of phosphorus doped g-C3N4 and its enhanced performance for photocatalytic H2 evolution in the help of Ag3PO4 nanoparticles

This paper synthesized a novel Ag3PO4/P-g-C3N4 via a two-step chemical route i.e. microwave-assisted heating and ion-exchange procedures. The as-synthesized hybrid presented high efficiency for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Systematic investigation indicated that phosphorus was successfully doped into the g-C3N4 framework through microwave heating the mixture of melamine and NH4H2PO4 for 40 min, which increases the BET surface area, broadens the visible light response region, and elevates the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs. The Ag3PO4 nanoparticles were decorated on the optimal P-g-C3N4 sample via an ion-exchange process. Due to the instability of Ag3PO4, the formed composite is actually Ag/Ag3PO4/P-g-C3N4 photocatalyst. The introduced Ag3PO4 nanoparticles further improves the charge separation efficiency of P-g-C3N4, but slightly affects the surface area and optical property, which highlights the key role of the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs in photocatalytic reaction. The best Ag3PO4/P-g-C3N4 hybrid shows a photocatalytic H2 production rate of 1221 and 90.2 μmol g−1 h−1 under simulated sunlight and visible light, respectively. This value is 2.1 and 1.4 times greater than that of g-C3N4 and P-g-C3N4, respectively. Meanwhile, the Ag3PO4/P-g-C3N4 displayed high photocatalytic stability. A probable photocatalytic mechanism of the hybrid was also suggested.

Supramolecular electrostatic self-assembly of mesoporous thin-walled graphitic carbon nitride microtubes for highly efficient visible-light photocatalytic activities

For efficient solar energy conversion, the morphology engineering of hollow graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is one of the promising approachs benefiting from abundant exposed active sites and short photocarrier transport distances, but is difficult to control on account of easy structural collapse. Herein, a facile supramolecular electrostatic self-assembly strategy has been developed for the first time to fabricate mesoporous thin-walled g-C3N4 microtubes (mtw-CNT) with shell thickness of ca. 13 nm. The morphological control of g-C3N4 enhances specific surface area by 12 times, induces stronger optical absorption, widens bandgap by 0.18 eV, improves photocurrent density by 2.5 times, and prolongs lifetimes of charge carriers from bulk to surface, compared with those of bulk g-C3N4. As a consequence, the transformed g-C3N4 exhibits the optimum photocatalytic H2-production rate of 3.99 mmol·h−1·g−1 (λ > 420 nm) with remarkable apparent quantum efficiency of 8.7% (λ = 420 ± 15 nm) and long-term stability. Moreover, mtw-CNT also achieves high photocatalytic CO2-to-CO selectivity of 96% (λ > 420 nm), much better than those on the most previously reported porous g-C3N4 photocatalysts prepared by the conventional hard-templating and soft-templating methods.

Accelerating charge transfer for highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic H2 production: In-situ constructing Schottky junction via anchoring Ni-P alloy onto defect-rich ZnS

The development of efficient and stable photocatalysts is fundamentally required for sunlight-driven water splitting. Herein, Ni-P alloy is controllably anchored onto the surface of defect-rich ZnS (DR-ZnS) nanospheres through in-situ photodeposition strategy. The optimized Ni-P/DR-ZnS nanocomposite displays superior visible-light photocatalytic H2 production rate (69.92 μmol h−1), which is about 29 times and 3.6 times higher than that of the bare DR-ZnS and 1 wt% Pt/DR-ZnS, respectively, and a notable apparent quantum yield of 2.4 % at 420 nm. The existence of rich defects endows the DR-ZnS with visible-light absorption capability. The constructed Schottky junction between the Ni-P alloy and DR-ZnS accelerates the transfer of photogenerated electrons from DR-ZnS to Ni-P, thus boosting the photocatalytic performance. Moreover, the charge transfer process and underlying photocatalytic mechanism are unravelled by multiple in-depth characterizations. This research sheds novel light on rationally fabricating high-efficient and low-cost photocatalysts through integrating defect engineering and Schottky junction design.