Cadmium sulfide (CdS)-based photocatalysts have attracted extensive attention owing to their strong visible light absorption, suitable band energy levels, and excellent electronic charge transportation properties. This review focuses on the recent progress related to the design, modification, and construction of CdS-based photocatalysts with excellent photocatalytic H2 evolution performances. First, the basic concepts and mechanisms of photocatalytic H2 evolution are briefly introduced. Thereafter, the fundamental properties, important advancements, and bottlenecks of CdS in photocatalytic H2 generation are presented in detail to provide an overview of the potential of this material. Subsequently, various modification strategies adopted for CdS-based photocatalysts to yield solar H2 are discussed, among which the effective approaches aim at generating more charge carriers, promoting efficient charge separation, boosting interfacial charge transfer, accelerating charge utilization, and suppressing charge-induced self-photocorrosion. The critical factors governing the performance of the photocatalyst and the feasibility of each modification strategy toward shaping future research directions are comprehensively discussed with examples. Finally, the prospects and challenges encountered in developing nanostructured CdS and CdS-based nanocomposites in photocatalytic H2 evolution are presented.

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Nanostructured CdS for efficient photocatalytic H 2 evolution: A review

The paradigm for “photocatalysis” has been subject to continuous evolution, particularly over most recent years, due to the increasing attention to sustainable schemes for energy and chemicals prod...

Updates on the Roadmap for Photocatalysis

The effect of hole localization on photocatalytic activity of Pt-tipped semiconductor nanocrystals is investigated. By tuning the energy balance at the semiconductor-ligand interface, we demonstrate that hydrogen production on Pt sites is efficient only when electron-donating molecules are used for stabilizing semiconductor surfaces. These surfactants play an important role in enabling an efficient and stable reduction of water by heterostructured nanocrystals as they fill vacancies in the valence band of the semiconductor domain, preventing its degradation. In particular, we show that the energy of oxidizing holes can be efficiently transferred to a ligand moiety, leaving the semiconductor domain intact. This allows reusing the inorganic portion of the \"degraded\" nanocrystal-ligand system simply by recharging these nanoparticles with fresh ligands.

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The Role of Hole Localization in Sacrificial Hydrogen Production by Semiconductor-Metal Heterostructured Nanocrystals

Recent Progress of Vacancy Engineering for Electrochemical Energy Conversion Related Applications

The electrochemical method of combining N2 and H2 O to produce ammonia (i.e., the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction [E-NRR]) continues to draw attention as it is both environmentally friendly and well suited for a progressively distributed farm economy. Despite the multitude of recent works on the E-NRR, further progress in this field faces a bottleneck. On the one hand, despite the extensive exploration and trial-and-error evaluation of E-NRR catalysts, no study has stood out to become the stage protagonist. On the other hand, the current level of ammonia production (microgram-scale) is an almost insurmountable obstacle for its qualitative and quantitative determination, hindering the discrimination between true activity and contamination. Herein i) the popular theory and mechanism of the NRR are introduced; ii) a comprehensive summary of the recent progress in the field of the E-NRR and related catalysts is provided; iii) the operational procedures of the E-NRR are addressed, including the acquisition of key metrics, the challenges faced, and the most suitable solutions; iv) the guiding principles and standardized recommendations for the E-NRR are emphasized and future research directions and prospects are provided.

Comprehensive Understanding of the Thriving Ambient Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction Reaction.

Novel Designed MnS-MoS2 Heterostructure for Fast and Stable Li/Na Storage:Insights into the Advanced Mechanism Attributed to Phase Engineering

From a thermodynamic point of view, electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is possible for the carbon-based metal-free catalysts, which are gradually becoming a class of potential alternatives to metal-based catalysts. However, the clarification of true active sites and corresponding exact catalytic mechanism of metal-free catalysts is urgently required. Taking full advantage of boron “Lewis acid”, a series of boron carbonitride (BCN) materials were designed and synthesized and the “Lewis acid catalysis” sites were tuned easily by adjusting the relative contents of boron and nitrogen atoms. Boron-enriched BCN exhibited outstanding NRR performance with an ammonia yield of −8.39 μg h−1.cm−2cat. (−41.9 μg h−1.mg−1cat.) and Faradaic efficiency of −9.87 %, together with excellent stability. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the boron sites of BCN enable the low energy barrier of the NRR rate-determining steps and the spontaneity of nitrogen adsorption. Our philosophy opens a new possible avenue to explore high-performance metal-free materials for nitrogen activation.

Metal-free boron carbonitride with tunable boron Lewis acid sites for enhanced nitrogen electroreduction to ammonia

Band-matching transformation between CdS and BCNNTs with tunable p-n homojunction for enhanced photocatalytic pure water splitting

The sluggish redox kinetics and severe shuttle effect remain the key issues for lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, and result in their inferior electrochemical properties. In this contribution, metal-free borocarbonitride nanotubes (BCNNTs) are readily fabricated by pyrolysis of an organic precursor and used as the sulfur host material in Li–S batteries for the first time. The unique nanotube structure and the existence of B and N endow BCNNTs with high surface area, excellent stability, improved electrical conductivity, and they show efficient physical and chemical anchoring and conversion of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). By combining the fast Li+ and electron transportation, a Li–S battery with superior rate and cycling performance is achieved, which is consistent with the results of the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Typically, BCNNT based Li–S batteries show prominent cycling life with a capacity degradation of 0.041% per cycle (1000 cycles) and a high sulfur loading of 5.3 mg cm−2. This work defines an efficacious strategy to restrain the shuttle effect of LiPSs and shed light on the great potential of metal-free BCNNTs in Li–S batteries.

Shuttle confinement of lithium polysulfides in borocarbonitride nanotubes with enhanced performance for lithium–sulfur batteries

Nanostructured mixed metal oxides with porous hollow-interior structure hold great promise in environmental-related catalysis, owing to their excellent catalytic properties. However, facile fabrication of such mesoporous architecture is still challenging. Here, by using a transient aerosol-assisted self-assembly (AASA) method, we synthesized the Co3O4-Al2O3 mesoporous hollow spheres (MHS) composed of thermally stable Co3O4 nanoparticles partially anchored to amorphous interfacial Al2O3. The as-prepared Co3O4-Al2O3 nanocomposites displayed distinct features of large pore volume and stable assembled morphology, and thus showed significant advantages in mass transfer and redox behavior. For Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, a very important reaction in fuel production, the Co3O4-Al2O3 MHS exhibited significant catalytic performance in conversion, selectivity and stability for the desired gasoline products. Therefore, we provide a facile and controlled approach towards the preparation of mesoporous hollow materials to achieve novel mixed metal oxide nanocatalysts those are good candidates in energy-production application.

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Dong Shi

Papers

Novel Designed MnS-MoS2 Heterostructure for Fast and Stable Li/Na Storage:Insights into the Advanced Mechanism Attributed to Phase Engineering

Metal-free boron carbonitride with tunable boron Lewis acid sites for enhanced nitrogen electroreduction to ammonia

Band-matching transformation between CdS and BCNNTs with tunable p-n homojunction for enhanced photocatalytic pure water splitting

Shuttle confinement of lithium polysulfides in borocarbonitride nanotubes with enhanced performance for lithium–sulfur batteries

Co3O4-Al2O3 mesoporous hollow spheres as efficient catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis