Z-scheme based fabrication of Cu2CdSnS4/Au/g-C3N4 ternary heterojunction with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production

Using the photo-deposition-hydrothermal approach, we synthesized a new Z-scheme Cu2CdSnS4/Au/g-C3N4 ternary heterojunction with varying levels of Au. This was done to improve the photocatalytic performance of the material. Due to rapid electron-hole recombination and insufficient solar light absorption, Cu2CdSnS4/Au/gC3N4 struggles to achieve its maximum photocatalytic activity. Cu2CdSnS4/Au/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalysts, which are composed of nanosheets of Au/g-C3N4 and Cu2CdSnS4, have recently been studied by employing several techniques. These hybrid photocatalysts are characterized by their heterojunction properties. A variety of methods may be utilized, including SEM, XRD, FT-IR, XPS, TEM, and UV-Vis. After 3 h under visible light irradiation, it was discovered that the final composite Cu2CdSnS4/Au/g-C3N4 heterojunction generated 2478.6 mu mol g- 1 hydrogen. This result was 14 times greater than the pristine g-C3N4 heterojunction and 4.5 times greater than the pristine Cu2CdSnS4 heterojunction. On the other hand, the sacrificial electron donors triethanolamine (TEOA) and methanol exhibited extended photostability, with hydrogen production rates of 2478.6 mu mol g- 1 and 330.7 mu mol g- 1, respectively, compared to glycerol, which yielded a hydrogen production rate of 2105.7 mu mol g- 1. After conducting an in-depth investigation of heterojunction photocatalysts, we found that Cu2CdSnS4 is highly effective in photon harvesting. This efficiency is attributed to the selective utilization of Z-scheme charge transfer, enabled by multiple charge transfer pathways. This study confirmed that heterojunction photocatalysts exhibit outstanding photocatalytic performance for hydrogen production.