Synergistic electric metal (Ni SAs)-semiconductor (CdS NPs) interaction for improved H2O-to-H2 conversion performance under simulated sunlight
作者：W. Li,* Y. Dang, T. Ma, J. Li, G. Liao, F. Gao, W. Duan, Xu. Wang, C. Wang*
關鍵字：Photocatalysis; Single-atom cocatalysis; Hydrogen evolution; Cadmium sulfide; Density functional theory
論文來源：期刊
具體來源：https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202300110
發表時間：2023年
Single-atom (SA) cocatalysis has obvious superiority in promoting solar-to-chemical energy conversion. However, easy aggregation of SAs is very unfavorable to its catalysis for high surface energy. Herein, a photoreduction procedure was adopted to immobilize Ni SAs on CdS nanoparticles (NPs) to construct the synergistic electric metal-semiconductor interaction (EMSI) for highly promoting the simulated sunlight-driven H2O-to-H2 (HTH) conversion in alkaline condition (pH = 14.0) without any sacrificial agent addition, and the nanocatalyst with 1.25‰ of Ni carrying capacity (CdS-Ni1.25‰) achieved the highest HTH conversion rate (8149.71 μmol·h-1·g-1, 13.0-fold greater of that of CdS NPs) and stable photostability accompanied by 27.60% of apparent quantum yield (AQY400 nm). Characterizations and density functional theory calculations indicated that the EMSI on CdS-Ni1.25‰ nanocatalyst greatly improved the light absorption capacity and promoted the orderly bulk-to-surface migration of photoexcitons, effectively suppressing their recombination kinetics for higher photoexciton utilization efficiency. Under alkaline conditions, high concentration of OH- ions are easy to react with photogenerated holes to generate hydroxyl radicals for effectively inhibiting the oxidation half-reaction and obtaining higher HTH conversion performance owing to significantly reduced energy barriers on atomic Ni sites. This study provides an insight for improving the performance of conventional photocatalyst through non-noble metallic SAs cocatalysis.