Enhanced photocarrier separation in conjugated polymer engineered CdS for direct Z-scheme photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

A novel direct Z-scheme CdS/PI heterojunction photocatalysts are prepared by in situ growing hexagonal phase CdS nanoparticles on the surface of PI nanosheets. The 15%CdS/PI photocatalyst exhibits more than 5 times and 60 times higher H2 evolution rate than that of CdS and PI under visible-light irradiation. Most importantly, the excellent photostability is also achieved over 15% CdS/PI. The enhanced photocatalytic performance and photostability can be attributed to the direct Z-scheme charge transfer between CdS and PI, which accelerates the charges separation and transfer as well as effective suppress of the photocorrosion in CdS/PI heterojunction.