Improved hydrogen production performance of an S-scheme Nb2O5/La2O3 photocatalyst

Addressing the intricate challenge of simultaneously improving the separation of photoinduced electron-hole pairs and enhancing redox potentials to produce hydrogen fuel demands the rational design of S-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts. Herein, we used a hydrothermal process to integrate Nb2O5 nanorods and La2O3 nanosheets to design an Nb2O5/La2O3 S-scheme system for photocatalytic hydrogen production under simulated sunlight illumination. Notably, the optimal hydrogen production performance of Nb2O5/La2O3 (the molar ratio of Nb2O5 to La2O3 is 0.4% and denoted as 0.4NbO-LaO) reached 2175 mu mol h-1 g-1, which is 14.5 and 15.9 times superior in comparison with those of pure Nb2O5 and La2O3, respectively. In addition, repeated experiments verify the strong stability of the 0.4NbO-LaO photocatalyst. The S-scheme mechanism, verified by the in situ XPS method, plays a crucial role in producing hydrogen with a significantly higher yield than pure Nb2O5 and La2O3. This design approach offers an innovative avenue to widen the scope of S-scheme photocatalysts for solar fuel production.