Novel Ag2S/ZnS/carbon nanofiber ternary nanocomposite for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

• This is the first report on Ag2S/ZnS/CNF ternary nanocomposite photocatalyst.
• Ag2S/ZnS/CNF nanocomposite was synthesized by a simple in-situ method.
• Ag2S/ZnS/CNF nanocomposite reaches a H2 production rate of 224.9 μmol h− 1.
• CNF and Ag2S are used as water reduction and oxidation cocatalyst, respectively.

Novel Ag2S/ZnS/carbon nanofiber (CNF) ternary nanocomposite with high photocatalytic H2 production performance was synthesized by combination of an in-situ solid-state process and a cation-exchange reaction, using organic–inorganic layered zinc hydroxide nanofibers as precursor. Moreover, the loading amount of Ag2S nanocrystals can be readily regulated by changing the AgNO3 concentration, and the optimized H2 production rate was 224.9 μmol h− 1, significantly higher than that of the reported ZnS-based composite photocatalysts. The synergistic effect of CNF and Ag2S as water reduction and oxidation cocatalyst, respectively, can greatly suppress the charge recombination thus resulting in high photocatalytic H2 production activity.

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