Visible-light-driven hydrogen generation from formic acid over CdS photoanode

•A FTO coated with CdS is prepared with simple chemical bath deposition.•It acts as photoanode to split formic acid to produce hydrogen.•The splitting voltage to produce hydrogen is extremely lower even with visible light.•The energy conversion efficiency can be 1.2%.

The photoelectrochemical (PEC) behaviour of cadmium sulphide/fluorine-doped tin oxide conductive glass (CdS/FTO) photoanode that prepared by simple chemical bath deposition to split formic acid and produce hydrogen was tested. Compared to splitting water or utilizing FTO as anode, the splitting voltage to produce hydrogen on CdS/FTO anode is extremely low when the PEC reaction is carried out in formic acid solution irradiated with visible light. Furthermore, the energy conversion efficiency can be 1.2%. This may offer a new route for hydrogen production and treatment of formic acid waste water.