NiS modified CdS pyramids with stacking fault structures: Highly efficient and stable photocatalysts for hydrogen production from water

The CdS particles formed pyramid structures, and the NiS particles attached to the plane of pyramid structure (red circled portion), showed in Fig. a. The clear stacking fault structures can be obviously observed within pyramid CdS shown in TEM images (b). The activity of hydrogen production for NiS/CdS with different concentration of lactic acid was showed in Fig. c. When the concentration of lactic acid was enhanced to 50%, The average rate reached maximum of 49.2 mmol g−1 h−1 with an extremely high apparent quantum yield (AQY = 74.6 %) at 420 nm. To our knowledge, this value was the highest efficiency for NiSx modified CdS photocatalysts. The catalyst also showed a perfect stability for photocatalytic reaction of continuous long time, and the photoactivity had no significant degradation after photocatalytic reaction for 120 h under visible light irradiation, which had not been reported in the literatures.333