Enwrapping ZnIn2S4 on vacancy-rich Nb2O5 nanoplates for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Efficient separation of photogenerated charge carriers and a good light harvesting ability are two crucial factors that significantly affect photocatalytic activity. Herein, we integrate ZnIn₂S₄ nanosheets onto vacancy-rich Nb₂O₅ (v-Nb₂O₅) nanoplates to construct Z-scheme heterostructures for significantly improving the photocatalytic activity for H₂ generation. Owing to the boosted transfer and separation efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers induced by the internal electric field, the stronger reduction ability of conduction band electrons, and the improved light harvesting ability by introducing oxygen vacancies, ZnIn₂S₄/v-Nb₂O₅ exhibits significantly enhanced visible-light driven H₂ generation activity compared to pristine ZnIn₂S₄. The combined utilization of multiple modification techniques, such as Z-scheme heterojunctions and oxygen vacancies, is expected to overcome the current bottleneck in photocatalytic performance.