Hierarchical porous CdS nanosheet-assembled flowers with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic H2-production performance

•Hierarchical porous CdS nanosheet-assembled flowers were synthesized by a simple ion-exchange strategy using morphology-analogous Cd(OH)2 and Na2S as precursors.•The prepared CdS flowers exhibited high visible-light photocatalytic H2 production activity and 24.7% quantum efficiency at 420 nm.•The ion-exchange strategy of Cd(OH)2 intermediates can be extended to the preparation of other porous oxides and sulfides with hierarchical nanostructures.•The hierarchical organization of nanosheets and porous nanosheet structures can efficiently enhance light-absorption ability and provide a greater number of active adsorption sites.

Hierarchical porous CdS nanosheet-assembled flowers were synthesized by a simple ion-exchange strategy using morphology-analogous Cd(OH)2 and Na2S as precursors. The prepared CdS flowers exhibited high visible-light photocatalytic H2-production activity with a rate of 468.7 μmol h−1 and the corresponding apparent quantum efficiency (QE) of 24.7% at 420 nm, which exceeded that obtained on CdS nanoparticles by more than 3 times. This enhanced photocatalytic H2-production activity was achieved because the hierarchical organization of nanosheets and porous nanosheet structures can efficiently enhance light-absorption ability and provide a greater number of active adsorption sites. This work shows a great potential of hierarchical porous CdS nanosheet-assembled flowers for photocatalytic H2 production, and also demonstrates that the ion-exchange strategy of Cd(OH)2 intermediates can be extended to the preparation of other porous oxides and sulfides with hierarchical nanostructures.

Graphical abstractHierarchical porous CdS nanosheet-assembled flowers, synthesized by ion-exchange between Cd(OH)2 and Na2S, exhibited high visible-light photocatalytic H2 production performance.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide