Carbon nitride derived carbon and nitrogen Co-doped CdS for stable photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

The narrow band-gap and long life-time of photo-generated charges endow CdS with much higher photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) activity over other photocatalysts. Thus, CdS based materials are considered to be most promising photocatalysts for PHE activity and stability. In this work, graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) is used as sacrifice agent to synthesize is nitrogen and carbon co-doped CdS nanoparticles with of uniform small size and higher specific surface area via hydrothermal reaction. Besides, co-doping of nitrogen and especially carbon leads to electron penetration to CdS results in tuned band structure of doped CdS with down-shifted conducting band and valance band positions. Moreover, the doped heteroatoms act as charge trapping centers that enhance charge separation within CdS particles endowing their photo-generated charges with longer life-time in compared with that of bare CdS. Benefited from non-metallic heteroatoms doping, obviously increased PHE activity and stability of CdS under visible light irradiation are achieved.