Ni-MOFs/ZnIn2S4 organic–inorganic hybrid materials enhancement photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible light via faster carrier separation efficiency

Abstract

Due to the poor visible light responsiveness, low charge separation efficiency and specific surface area, the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of ZnIn2S4 (ZIS) is unsatisfactory. In this work, a type II heterojunction between Ni-MOFs (NMOF) and ZIS is constructed via a mechanical/hydrothermal method. NMOF provides a high specific surface area resulting in hybrid materials have more active sites to accelerate hydrogen evolution. Meanwhile, it was the realization of faster carrier separation efficiency and expanded light responsiveness. Benefiting from above results, 8-Ni-MOFs/ZnIn2S4 (NMOF/ZIS) exhibits superior hydrogen evolution performance, reaching 8496 μmol·g−1·h−1, which is 11.9 times higher than pure ZIS (712 μmol·g−1·h−1). In addition, NMOF/ZIS keep 82.4 % fresh performance compared to first test after four cycles. This provides a new perspective for advancing high-performance organic–inorganic hybrid materials.