Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2024, Vol. 65: 174-184.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(24)60108-7

• Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Interfacial coordination bonds accelerate charge separation for unprecedented hydrogen evolution over S-scheme heterojunction

Chunxue Lia, Hao Lub, Guixiang Dingc, Tianyi Mad, Shiyong Liue, Li Zhangf,*(), Guangfu Liaoc,*()   

  1. aCollege of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350118, Fujian, China
    bSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, Jiangsu, China
    cCollege of Materials Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China
    dSchool of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
    eJiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Functional Crystalline Materials Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, Jiangxi, China
    fState Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing Technologies, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, Hubei, China
  • Received:2024-06-04 Accepted:2024-07-22 Online:2024-10-18 Published:2024-10-15
  • Contact: *E-mail: lzhang535-c@my.cityu.edu.hk (L. Zhang), liaogf@mail2.sysu.edu.cn (G. Liao).
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(52203110);Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province(2023J05052);Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Functional Crystalline Materials Chemistry(2024SSY05161);Scientific Research Foundation of Fujian University of Technology(GY-Z220182)

Abstract:

Inspired by natural photosynthesis, fabricating high-performance S-scheme heterojunction is regarded as a successful tactic to address energy and environmental issues. Herein, NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/Zn0.5Cd0.5S/NiS (NMT/ZCS/NiS) S-scheme heterojunction with interfacial coordination bonds is successfully synthesized through in-situ solvothermal strategy. Notably, the optimal NMT/ZCS/NiS S-scheme heterojunction exhibits comparable photocatalytic H2 evolution (PHE) rate of about 14876.7 μmol h-1 g-1 with apparent quantum yield of 24.2% at 420 nm, which is significantly higher than that of recently reported MOFs-based photocatalysts. The interfacial coordination bonds (Zn-N, Cd-N, and Ni-N bonds) accelerate the separation and transfer of photogenerated charges, and the NiS as cocatalyst can provide more catalytically active sites, which synergistically improve the photocatalytic performance. Moreover, theoretical calculation results display that the construction of NMT/ZCS/NiS S-scheme heterojunction also optimize the binding energy of active site-adsorbed hydrogen atoms to enable fast adsorption and desorption. Photoassisted Kelvin probe force microscopy, in-situ irradiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations provide sufficient evidence of the S-scheme charge migration mechanism. This work offers unique viewpoints for simultaneously accelerating the charge dynamics and optimizing the binding strength between the active sites and hydrogen adsorbates over S-scheme heterojunction.

Key words: Interfacial coordination bond, S-scheme heterojunction, Photocatalytic H2 evolution, Charge dynamics, Free energy barrier