A novel 3DOM‐ZrO2/Cd0.5Zn0.5S catalyst with excellent photocatalytic H2 evolution performance

Abstract Three‐dimensional ordered macroporous (3DOM) materials have good properties in the mass transfer and diffusion. Herein, a novel Z‐scheme 3DOM‐ZrO 2 /Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S (Zr3D/CZS) heterojunction catalyst was prepared and applied to photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production. The results show that the three‐dimensional macroporous zirconia is conducive to the transport of photogenerated charges, and the optimal catalyst 2Zr3D/CZS achieves the highest hydrogen production rate of 83.12 mmol g −1 h −1 under the full spectrum illumination, which is 213 and 2 times higher than that of pure ZrO 2 (0.39 mmol g −1 h −1 ) and CZS (40.86 mmol g −1 h −1 ), respectively. Under 450 nm light irradiation, the apparent quantum efficient is up to 44 %. In addition, the catalyst also showed good stability. The possible charge transfer mechanism was proposed under the full spectrum and visible light, respectively. This work provides an efficient strategy for design and synthesis of high active ZrO 2 based photocatlysts for hydrogen production.