Enhancement of catalytic hydrogen evolution by NiS modification of ZnCo2O4 with cubic morphology

It was the constant pursuit of researchers to explore catalysts with higher catalytic activity, and the use of co-catalysts to modify the performance of photocatalytic materials had a significant effect on charge separation. In this paper, the non-precious metal NiS-modified ZnCo 2 O 4 composite catalytic material prepared by hydrothermal method had high-efficiency catalytic performance. When the weight ratio of NiS to ZnCo 2 O 4 was 12%, the optimal catalytic activity is 3.57 mmol g −1 h −1 , which was more than twice that of ZnCo 2 O 4 . The presence of NiS not only improved the specific surface area of the catalyst and its ability to respond to light, but the close interface formed by the combination of the two monomer phases accelerated the transfer and the utilization of the photocharge on ZnCo 2 O 4 to NiS, thereby promoting the separation of electron holes and improving the photocatalytic activity of the catalyst. According to the research results, the mechanism of hydrogen production in the photocatalytic system was revealed. In this paper, NiS was used to modify the bimetallic oxide with cubic appearance, which provided a new strategy for the development of new photocatalysts.