A Z-scheme Bi2MoO6/CdSe-diethylenetriamine heterojunction for enhancing photocatalytic hydrogen production activity under visible light

Abstract

Recently, cadmium selenide (CdSe) has been deeply studied because of its excellent photocatalytic hydrogen (H₂) production performance. However, pure CdSe has poor stability and severe photocorrosion, which seriously affect its application prospect. In this work, we successfully deposit Bi₂MoO₆ on an inorganic–organic CdSe-diethylenetriamine (DETA) hybrid to design Bi₂MoO₆/CdSe-DETA composites by an in situ solvothermal method. The morphology, crystal structure, electrochemical properties, H₂ evolution performance and the photostability of Bi₂MoO₆/CdSe-DETA composites are explored using various techniques. The results show that the as-prepared Bi₂MoO₆/CdSe-DETA composites exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance and photostability under visible light irradiation. Among them, the Bi₂MoO₆/CdSe-DETA hybrid system exhibits excellent photocatalytic H₂ production performance (5.92 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹), which is approximately 3.6 and 1.8 times higher than that of pure CdSe and CdSe-DETA, respectively. After 4 cycles, the photocatalyst still maintains high H₂ production. This study develops a new type of photocatalyst that can respond to visible light. This provides an effective way to solve the energy problem by using solar energy.