The influence of the sacrificial agent nature on transformations of the Zn(OH)2/Cd0.3Zn0.7S photocatalyst during hydrogen production under visible light

Dina V Markovskaya; Svetlana V Cherepanova; Evgeny Yu Gerasimov; Angelina V Zhurenok; Aleksandra V Selivanova; Dmitry S Selishchev; Ekaterina A Kozlova

doi:10.1039/c9ra08833d

The influence of the sacrificial agent nature on transformations of the Zn(OH)₂/Cd_0.3Zn_0.7S photocatalyst during hydrogen production under visible light

RSC Adv. 2020 Jan 8;10(3):1341-1350. doi: 10.1039/c9ra08833d. eCollection 2020 Jan 7.

Authors

Dina V Markovskaya^{1

2}, Svetlana V Cherepanova^{1

2}, Evgeny Yu Gerasimov^{1

2}, Angelina V Zhurenok¹, Aleksandra V Selivanova¹, Dmitry S Selishchev^{1

2}, Ekaterina A Kozlova^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS Lavrentieva Ave., 5 Novosibirsk 630090 Russia kozlova@catalysis.ru +7-383-333-16-17 +7-383-333-16-17.
² Novosibirsk State University Pirogova Str., 2 Novosibirsk 630090 Russia.

Abstract

Photocatalysts based on zinc hydroxide and a solid solution of CdS and ZnS were prepared via the precipitation method and used for photocatalytic hydrogen production from aqueous solutions of inorganic (Na₂S/Na₂SO₃) and organic (ethanol) sacrificial agents. The photocatalysts were tested in cyclic experiments for hydrogen evolution and studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. Different transformations of the β-Zn(OH)₂ co-catalyst were observed in the presence of inorganic and organic sacrificial agents; namely, ZnS was formed in Na₂S/Na₂SO₃ solution, whereas the formation of ε-Zn(OH)₂ was detected in solution with ethanol. The composite Zn(OH)₂/Cd_1-x Zn _x S photocatalysts have great potential in various photocatalysis processes (e.g., hydrogen production, CO₂ reduction, and the oxidation of organic contaminants) under visible light.