Bai-Rui Chen, Yan-Xin Chen*, Ming-Xi Zhang, Wei Wang, Xin-Zhi Tian, Wen-Ya Zhong, Hai-Long Wang, Chi Xing, Ke-Xian Li, Yi-Hong Wu, Xiao-Wei Wu, Xin-Yi Chen, Cheng-Ming Nie, Yang Ding*, Can-Zhong Lu*

Cite this article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjsc.2026.101074

Publication date:

Keywords: Znln₂S₄ (ZIS) photocatalyst; Transition metal phosphides (TMPs); Hydrogen production; Water splitting; Visible light

ABSTRACT

Enhancing the migration of photogenerated charges in semiconductor catalysts is an important way to enhance hydrogen (H2) production. We fabricated ZnIn2S4-CuNiP (Z-CuNiP) heterostructure by a simple ultrasonic blending method. These composites can be thought of as cheaper substitutes for expensive metal cocatalysts such as platinum or palladium. The incorporation of CuNiP was found to be highly efficacious in increasing the photocatalytic performance of ZnIn2S4 (ZIS) in visible light of relatively low intensity to reach a H2 production rate of 1.06 mmol·g-1·h-1. This is roughly four times that of pure ZIS. A key characteristic is the occurrence of a wide and close contact between ZIS and CuNiP that allows separation of photoinduced electron-hole pairs. Due to this, the efficiency of photocatalytic water splitting with respect to ZIS of the designed heterostructure increases significantly.