Photothermal co-catalysis with the partial conversion of solar energy to thermal energy has the potential to overcome the current bottleneck of realizing efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production with zero artificial energy consumption. However, it is still challenging to design highly efficient photocatalysts that can make use of light and thermal energy synergistically. In this work, we successfully improved the photothermal effect and visible-light-catalyzed hydrogen evolution performance by constructing a novel heterojunction based on the topological insulator BiTe and graphene oxide (GO) synergistically modified with ZnCdS. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of the 1.1 wt% BiTe@0.05% GO@ZnCdS heterojunctions reached 11.52 mmol/h/g (Apparent Quantum Yield of 21.7%), which was 12.9 times higher than that of pure ZnCdS. Furthermore, the hydrogen production rate reached 71.79 mmol/h/g without cooling. The improved photocatalytic activity originated from the synergistic enhancement of visible-light absorption and the systematic enhancement of the photothermal effect by the BiTe and GO. In addition, the high electrical conductivity of BiTe and the high proton conductivity of GO not only increased the electron transfer rate but also synergistically mediated the acceleration of the hydrogen generation reaction. A strong built-in electric field is formed between BiTe and ZnCdS, which greatly facilitates the efficient separation of photogenerated carriers. The obtained results illustrate a promising strategy for the development of efficient new photothermal catalysts.

中文翻译：

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拓扑绝缘体Bi2Te3和氧化石墨烯协同增强光热效应和光催化析氢活性


将太阳能部分转化为热能的光热共催化有可能克服目前实现零人工能耗高效光催化制氢的瓶颈。然而，设计能够协同利用光能和热能的高效光催化剂仍然具有挑战性。在这项工作中，我们通过构建基于拓扑绝缘体BiTe和氧化石墨烯（GO）与ZnCdS协同修饰的新型异质结，成功地提高了光热效应和可见光催化析氢性能。 1.1 wt% BiTe@0.05% GO@ZnCdS异质结的光催化析氢速率达到11.52 mmol/h/g（表观量子产率为21.7%），是纯ZnCdS的12.9倍。此外，在不冷却的情况下，氢气产率达到71.79 mmol/h/g。光催化活性的提高源于BiTe和GO对可见光吸收的协同增强以及光热效应的系统增强。此外，BiTe的高电导率和GO的高质子电导率不仅提高了电子转移速率，而且协同介导了产氢反应的加速。 BiTe 和 ZnCdS 之间形成强大的内建电场，极大地促进了光生载流子的有效分离。所获得的结果说明了开发高效新型光热催化剂的有前景的策略。