Photocatalytic H2 evolution on a novel CaIn2S4 photocatalyst under visible light irradiation

• Nanostructured CaIn2S4 was synthesized by hydrothermal method.
• CaIn2S4 has an optical band gap of 1.76 eV.
• The photocatalytic activities were studied under visible light irradiation.
• CaIn2S4 exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity.
• The photocatalyst could evolve H2 stably without deactivation.

A novel visible-light-driven photocatalyst CaIn2S4 was synthesized using a facile hydrothermal method followed by a post-calcination process. The influence of the calcination temperature and time on the activities of the photocatalyst was investigated. CaIn2S4 exhibits optical absorption predominantly in visible region with an optical band gap of 1.76 eV. Considerable activity for hydrogen evolution from pure water was observed without any sacrificial agents or cocatalysts under visible light irradiation. The maximum hydrogen evolution rate achieved was 30.92 μmol g−1 h−1 without obvious deactivation of the photocatalytic activity for four consecutive runs of 32 h.