Engineering of Ni(OH)₂ Modified Two-Dimensional ZnIn₂S₄ Heterostructure for Boosting Hydrogen Evolution under Visible Light Illumination

Abstract

Developing efficient catalysts to produce clean fuel by using solar energy has long been the goal to mitigate the issue of traditional fossil fuel scarcity. In this work, we design a heterostructure photocatalyst by employing two green components, Ni(OH)2 and ZnIn2S4, for efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution under the illumination of visible light. After optimization, the obtained photocatalyst exhibits an H2 evolution rate at 0.52 mL h−1 (5 mg) (i.e., 4640 μmol h−1 g−1) under visible light illumination. Further investigations reveal that such superior activity is originated from the efficient charge separation due to the two-dimensional (2D) structure of ZnIn2S4 and existing high-quality heterojunction.

Keywords

• photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
• charge transfer
• heterostructure