Self-assembly of triptycene-based polymer on cadmium sulfide nanorod to construct core-shell nanostructure for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic H2 evolution

•CdS@TCP core-shell nanorods were prepared by a facile in-situ synthesis.•CdS@TCP exhibited high surface area and intimate interfacial contact.•CdS@TCP-4 showed the highest H2 evolution rate of 104.51 mmol h−1 g−1.•The core-shell composite promoted the separation of photogenerated charge carriers.