Highly efficient colloidal MnxCd1-xS nanorod solid solution for photocatalytic hydrogen generation

In this study, a series of MnxCd1-xS nanorods solid solutions featuring precisely controlled band gap and suitable conduction band position were fabricated for the first time with a hot-injection synthesis under N-2 atmosphere. Correspondingly, the colloidal Mn0.5Cd0.5S solid solution exhibited the highest photocatalytic H-2 generation rate of 26000 mol g(-1) h(-1) and the apparent quantum efficiency of 30.3% at 400 nm, which is approximately 216 times higher than that of pristine h-CdS and 565 times higher than that of -MnS alone. Moreover, the MnxCd1-xS solid solution showed good photocatalytic stability because of a proper conduction band position and high crystallinity. This work demonstrates that this hot-injection strategy for developing highly efficient MnxCd1-xS solid solution is promising for preparing other binary or multicomponent solid solutions for a variety of photocatalytic applications.