CuS/AgO nanoparticles on ultrathin g-CN nanosheets to achieve high performance solar hydrogen evolution.

Ternary heterostructures play a crucial role in improving the separation of charge carriers and fast surface reaction kinetics, which in turn helps in understanding the effective photocatalytic water splitting performance. Herein, CuS/AgO nanoparticles were presented on a graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) surface to obtain CuS/AgO/g-CN material using facile hydrothermal and precipitation methods. Structural and morphological studies confirmed the presence of ternary nanostructures comprising CuS, AgO, and g-CN with nanoparticle and nanosheet morphologies. The as-synthesized CuS/AgO/g-CN exhibited a remarkable photocatalytic H production of 1752 µmol.h.g, which is considerably superior than those of CuS and g-CN. The improved H production performance which is due to the effective interfacial CuS/AgO/g-CN heterojunction interface and superior hole (h) trapping capability of the CuS at the CuS/AgO/g-CN interface. This can efficiently enhance the lifetime of photoexcited charge carriers and enhance the electron density for the production of H. The optimum CuS/AgO/g-CN heterostructure remained stable after 8 successive experimental cycles, although with a slight change in the H production rate. Therefore, this study offers a novel approach to exploit the efficacy through the synergetic effect of integrating CuS as the photocatalyst and AgO as the visible sensitizer, thus proposing a viable strategy of using earth-abundant material to enhance the conversion of solar energy to fuel.