Construction of Au/g-C3N4/ZnIn2S4 plasma photocatalyst heterojunction composite with 3D hierarchical microarchitecture for visible-light-driven hydrogen production

In this paper, a novel Au/g-C 3 N 4 /ZnIn 2 S 4 plasma photocatalyst heterojunction composite with 3D hierarchical microarchitecture has been successfully constructed by integrating Au/g-C 3 N 4 plasmonic photocatalyst composite with 3D ZnIn 2 S 4 nanosheet through a simple hydrothermal process. The Au nanoparticles were firstly anchored on the surface of pristine g-C 3 N 4 material to get Au/g-C 3 N 4 plasmonic photocatalyst. Ascribing to the surface plasmon resonance of Au nanoparticles , the obtained Au/g-C 3 N 4 plasmonic photocatalyst shows a significant improved photocatalytic activity toward hydrogen production from water with visible light response comparing with pristine g-C 3 N 4 . Further combining Au/g-C 3 N 4 plasmonic photocatalyst with 3D ZnIn 2 S 4 nanosheet to construct a heterojunction composite. Owing to the synergistic effect of the surface plasmon resonance of Au nanoparticles in Au/g-C 3 N 4 and the heterojunction structure in the interface of Au/g-C 3 N 4 and ZnIn 2 S 4 , the prepared Au/g-C 3 N 4 /ZnIn 2 S 4 plasma photocatalyst heterojunction composite shows an excellent photocatalytic activity toward hydrogen production from water with visible light response, which is around 7.0 and 6.3 times higher than that of the pristine C 3 N 4 and Znln 2 S 4 nanosheet, respectively. The present work might provide some insights for exploring other efficient heterojunction photocatalysts with excellent properties.