Metal Ni nanoparticles in-situ anchored on CdS nanowires as effective cocatalyst for boosting the photocatalytic H2 production and degradation activity

Rapid recombination of photoinduced charge carriers and photoinstability greatly hinder the large-scale application of CdS photocatalysis. Herein, non-noble metal Ni nanoparticles (NPs) as highly efficient co-catalysts are evenly anchored onto the surface of CdS nanowires (NWs) via a facile freeze calcination method. As a result, the H2 production performance of the optimal Ni/CdS NWs under the filter (λ≥420 nm) is about 80 times that of the bare CdS NWs, reaching 13267.2 μmol h−1 g−1 and the apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) is 9.3%. Furthermore, Ni/CdS NWs photocatalysts have a surprising performance in the degradation of reactive red (RR2) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH), and the optimal photodegradation properties are 0.125 and 0.069 min−1, respectively. According to the experimental characterization and theoretical calculation analysis, the deposition of Ni NPs not only increases the active sites of the reaction but also restrains the recombination of photoinduced charge carriers, so ameliorating the photocatalytic performance of CdS photocatalysts. This work provides a novel standpoint for designing non-noble metal co-catalyst/semiconductor photocatalysts for efficient solar energy conversion.