Mo₂N decorated hierarchical ZnIn₂S₄ with sulfur-rich vacancy photocatalyst for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

The development of photocatalyst is essential for achieving efficient photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production. Therefore, a novel Mo₂N (MN) decorated ZnIn₂S₄ (ZIS) with sulfur-rich vacancy (Sv-ZIS) photocatalyst was rationally constructed via a facile calcining-hydrothermal method for efficient photocatalytic H₂ production. The optimized photocatalyst exhibits an outstanding photocatalytic H₂ production rate of 10.28 mmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹, 7.52 and 3.11 times higher than that of bare ZIS and S_V-ZnIn₂S₄ (S_V-ZIS), respectively. The characterizations reveal that the presence of MN and S-vacancies improves the light absorption capacity, and facilitates the separation and migration of photogenerated carriers. Density functional theory calculations (DFT) have confirmed that MN can optimize ΔG_H* to approach 0, which is favorable for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Therefore, the combined effect of MN and S-vacancies facilitates efficient photocatalytic H₂ production of S_V-ZIS/MN.