Fast charge transfer kinetics in Sv-ZnIn2S4/Sb2S3 S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Constructing a S-scheme heterojunction with tight interface contact and fast charge transfer is beneficial to improving the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance. Herein, a unique one-dimensional (1D)/two-dimensional (2D) S-scheme heterojunction containing 1D Sb 2 S 3 nanorods and 2D ZnIn 2 S 4 with affluent sulfur vacancies (denoted as Sv-ZnIn 2 S 4 @Sb 2 S 3 ) was designed. The introduced sulfur vacancy can promote the effective adsorption of H + for the following interfacial hydrogen-evolution reaction. Furthermore, the larger contact area and stronger electron interaction between Sb 2 S 3 and ZnIn 2 S 4 effectively inhibits the recombination of photo-generated electron–hole pairs and abridges the migration distance of charges. As a result, the optimal Sv-ZnIn 2 S 4 @Sb 2 S 3 sample achieves H 2 evolution activity of 2741.3 mol·h −1 ·g −1 , which is 8.6 times that of pristine ZnIn 2 S 4 and 3.0 times that of the Sv-ZnIn 2 S 4 samples. Based on the experimental result, the photo-reactivity S-scheme mechanism of hydrogen evolution from water splitting with Sv-ZnIn 2 S 4 @Sb 2 S 3 is proposed. This work provides an effective method for developing S-scheme heterojunction composites of transition metal sulfide with high hydrogen evolution performance.