Cu-MOF modified Cd0.5Zn0.5S nanoparticles to form S-scheme heterojunction for efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution

Developing low-cost, environment-friendly and highly-active nanocomposites for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) has an important role in water splitting. In the present study, novel Cu-MOF/Cd0.5Zn0.5S composite catalyst was prepared by electrostatic self-assembly technique. A series of characterizations indicated that Cu-MOF formed a strong interface effect with Cd0.5Zn0.5S, which effectively increased the number of active sites and improved the hydrogen production performance. It can be found that the Cu-MOF/Cd0.5Zn0.5S-15 composite has a best hydrogen evolution efficiency of 18986 μmol g−1 h−1, which was 3.6 times higher than that of pure Cd0.5Zn0.5S (5301 μmol g−1 h−1). Furthermore, the creation of Cu-MOF/Cd0.5Zn0.5 heterojunction could significantly improve the deficiency of Cd0.5Zn0.5S in photocatalytic reaction and increase the rate of charge separation. These findings expand the use of Cu-MOF in photocatalysis while also offering a workable plan to enhance the hydrogen generation performance of Cd0.5Zn0.5S.