Synthesis of Bi2S3 nanowires and their photocatalytic performance for hydrogen production

Photocatalytic decomposition of water is a potential way to obtain hydrogen directly from solar energy. Of all the potential semiconductors, Bi 2 S 3 has attracted much attention due to its high utilization of sunlight. In this paper, Bi 2 S 3 nanowires with different morphologies and crystallinities were synthesized by a modified composite molten salt (M-CMS) method over different reaction times. Through the systematic characterization of the samples, it was found that Bi 2 S 3 samples with a longer synthesis times tend to form nanowires with a uniform morphology, clean surface, good crystallinity and lower photogenerated carrier recombination rate, and they can achieve efficient utilization of solar energy and high catalytic hydrogen production efficiency. The Bi 2 S 3 nanowires synthesized over 72 h had the best hydrogen production of 392 [Formula: see text]mol/g within 2 h, and they still maintained an efficiency of 89% after four cycles.