Surface disorder engineering in ZnCdS for cocatalyst free visible light driven hydrogen productionEnna Ha, Shuhong Ruan, Danyang Li et al.|Nano Research|2021 Metal chalcogenide solid solution, especially ZnCdS, has been intensively investigated in photocatalytic H2 generation due to their cost-effective synthetic procedure and adjustable band structures. In this work, we report on the defect engineering of ZnCdS with surface disorder layer by simple room temperature Li-ethylenediamine (Li-EDA) treatment. Experimental results confirm the formation of unusual Zn and S dual vacancies, where rich S vacancies (VS) served as electron trapping sites, meanwhile Zn vacancies (VZn) served as hole trapping sites. The refined structure significantly facilitates the photo charge carrier transfer and improves photocatalytic properties of ZnCdS. The disordered ZnCdS shows a highest photocatalytic H2 production rate of 33.6 mmol·g−1·h−1 under visible light with superior photocatalytic stabilities, which is 7.3 times higher than pristine ZnCdS and 7 times of Pt (1 wt.%) loaded ZnCdS.
Selective introduction of surface defects in anatase TiO <sub>2</sub> nanosheets for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen generationAbstract Defect engineering greatly enhances the catalytic activity of transition metal semiconductor photocatalysts. Recently, localized surface defects engineering has been intensively researched, but it still remains challenges on how to tilt the balance to the controllable construction of surface defects rather than bulk ones. Here, we report a facile room‐temperature solution processing strategy on (001) facet exposed anatase TiO 2 nanosheets (ATO), in which localized defects are generated on the surface selectivity with high concentration. To achieve the aspect, lithium‐ethylenediamine (Li‐EDA) treatment is carried out on (001) facet exposed ATO under a mild condition. The optimized sample exhibits outstanding photocatalytic H 2 production rates of 9.28 mmol·g −1 ·h −1 with loading 0.5 wt% Pt as co‐catalyst (AM 1.5), which is nearly 7.5 times higher than that of the pristine ATO. This defect engineering strategy of ATO photocatalyst will spark the ideas for the defects engineering and semiconductor photocatalyst, which is with important application prospect in solar energy conversion, including hydrogen generation and carbon dioxide reduction.