A bimetallic sulfide CuCo2S4 with good synergistic effect was constructed to drive high performance photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

In order to further improve the photocatalytic performance of the semiconductor photocatalyst, a photocatalytic hydrogen production performance was measured using a bimetallic sulfide photocatalyst. On this basis, the hydrogen production performance of the bimetallic sulfide CuCo2S4 (CCS-3) was compared with that of the single metal sulfides Cu31S16 and CoS2. The results showed that the bimetallic sulfide CCS-3 significantly improved the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. The unique structure of the bimetallic sulfide CCS-3 made the photocatalytic activity of H2 2.47 times and 178.08 times higher than that of Cu31S16 and CoS2, respectively. In addition, the hydrogen production activity in CCS-3 was also very stable after XRD comparison before and after the reaction. The results of UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy showed that the visible light response range was significantly expanded, and the forbidden band width was smaller than that of Cu31S16 and CoS2. Photoluminescence spectroscopy results showed that CCS-3 had the best quenching effect because of its unique structure, which improved the separation efficiency and electron transfer efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes. This article demonstrated new design strategies that would bring new insights into hydrogen evolution photocatalysts.