Synergistic effect of excellent carriers separation and efficient high level energy electron utilization on Bi-CeTiO/ZnInS heterostructure for photocatalytic hydrogen production.

The separation of photogenerated carriers and the efficient utilization of high-level energy electrons (HLEEs) are the key processes for improving the performance of photocatalysts. Herein, CeTiO/ZnInS (CTOZIS) and Bi-doped CeTiO/ZnInS (BCTOZIS) photocatalyst were successfully synthesized through hydrothermal method. The photocatalytic hydrogen production of CTOZIS and BCTOZIS was 1233.7 μmol g and 4168.5 μmol g under visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm) within 5 h, which was 2.3 and 7.6 times than that of pure ZnInS, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and electrochemical characterization demonstrated that after Bi doping, the electron-hole pairs recombination of BCTOZIS was inhibited, which may be ascribed to the establishment of a Z-scheme heterojunction and the presence of oxygen vacancy and Ce/Ce redox center. The doping of Bi resulted in the adjustment of the valence band position of CeTiO from 1.98 V to 1.92 V. This adjustment enabled direct transfer of HLEEs generated in CeTiO to the conduction band of ZnInS for hydrogen production with a wavelength below 423 nm. The synergistic effect of conventional Z-scheme electron transfer and the unique utilization of HLEEs boosted the photocatalytic performance of BCTOZIS. This study affords an innovative insight for designing visible-light-driven photocatalysts with high photocatalytic activity.