Vacancy-induced tensile strain of CdS/Bi2S3 as a highly performance and robust photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution

Meng Li; Huaisuo Yao; Shunyu Yao; Gang Chen; Jingxue Sun

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.056

Vacancy-induced tensile strain of CdS/Bi₂S₃ as a highly performance and robust photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Jan 15;630(Pt B):224-234. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.056. Epub 2022 Oct 18.

Authors

Meng Li¹, Huaisuo Yao¹, Shunyu Yao¹, Gang Chen¹, Jingxue Sun²

Affiliations

¹ MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, PR China.
² MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, PR China. Electronic address: jxsun@hit.edu.cn.

PMID: 36327725
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.056

Abstract

Lattice strain is a new strategy for promoting photocatalytic activity in order to source more sustainable energy. Vacancy-induced strain is an effective tactic for lattice deformation. Herein, a CdS/Bi₂S₃ heterojunction structure containing sulfur vacancies (CdS/Bi₂S₃-V_S) is synthesized by a one-step solvothermal method. When there are sulfur vacancies in the Bi₂S₃ lattice (Bi₂S₃-V_S), the surrounding atoms move toward sulfur vacancies. This phenomenon lengthens the bonds between surrounding atoms, resulting in tensile stress. Strain engineering adjusts the energy band structure to reduce the interface barrier height, thus effectively improving the interface charge transfer rate. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) calculations explore the influence of different strain levels on the band structure and Gibbs free energy. The strain-regulated band structure provides a new approach and effectively reduce the interface barrier.

Keywords: Energy band structure; Interface barrier; Lattice strain; Sulfur vacancies; Tensile stress.