In situ loading of ZnIn2S4 nanosheets onto S doped g-C3N4 nanosheets to construct type II heterojunctions for improving photocatalytic hydrogen production

In this work, type II heterojunctions were constructed by in suit loading of ZnIn2S4 (ZIS) nanosheets onto S-doped g-C3N4 (SCN) nanosheets by a simple hydrothermal synthesis method. The formation of heterojunction induced rapid electron-hole separation, while the introduction of SCN reduced the internal resistance of photogenerated carriers to transfer. When the mass fraction of SCN was 20 %, the best photocatalytic hydrogen production performance was 1.63 mmol g−1 h−1 under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm), which was 7.7 and 2.8 times higher than SCN (0.21 mmol g−1 h−1) and ZIS (0.57 mmol g−1 h−1), respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was mainly due to greater light utilization achieved by band gap adjustment through constructing heterojunctions and improved electron-hole separation efficiency. This method can effectively improve the photocatalytic performance of ZIS-based photocatalysts in a simple way.