Construction heterojunction by Cd0.5Zn0.5S nanoparticles anchored on basic zinc carbonate doped Ni(HCO3)2 nanosheets for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light irradiation

Highlights: • Construction noble-metal-free heterojunction. • highly stable and efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light irradiation. • The mechanism in hydrogen production was proposed. Using photocatalysts to produce hydrogen from photocatalytic water splitting is a green approach for producing renewable energy with minimum environmental impact. The key to the success of this technology is to develop an efficient hydrogen production catalyst with stable performance. In this work, we report a simple two-step preparation of zinc carbonate modified with Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/Ni(HCO₃)₂ composite. The participation of Ni(HCO₃)₂ co-catalyst improved the visible light activity, which also irreversibly inhibited the recombination of holes and electrons. Meanwhile, the novel 0D and 2D heterojunctions are responsible for the excellent catalytic performance with superior stability. The catalytic hydrogen production reached the best rate of 64 mmol/g/h with the cumulative hydrogen production of 320 mmol/g in 5 h, which is even better than that from the photocatalysts activated with the precious metal, Pt. The underlying mechanism was rationalized by the hydrogen evolution kinetics analysis. The excellent hydrogen production performance, presented in this work, demonstrated that the composite of zinc carbonate modified with Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/Ni(HCO₃)₂ is a promising, economical and efficient choice of the photocatalyst.