Construction of S-scheme MnO_(2)@CdS heterojunction with core–shell structure as H_(2)-production photocatalyst

Artificial photosynthesis is deemed as an efficient protocol for transforming abundant solar energy into valuable fuel. In this paper, the well-defined one-dimensional(1D) core–shell MnO_(2)@CdS hybrids were constructed by employing MnO_(2) nanotubes and CdS nanoparticles as nano-building blocks via a chemical coprecipitation route. The rationally designed core–shell structure provided an intimate heterojunction interface between the CdS shell and MnO_(2) core. All the MnO_(2)@CdS core–shell nanocomposites possess higher H_(2) evolution rate through visible light irradiation contrary to pristine CdS, and the optimal MnO_(2)@CdS hybrid exhibits the utmost H_(2) evolution rate of 3.94 mmol·g^(-1)·h^(-1), which is2.8-fold higher compared with that of CdS. Appertaining to XPS and Mott-Schottky(M-S) analysis, such enhanced photocatalytic H_(2) generation of MnO_(2)@CdS heterojunction was ascribed to an S-scheme mechanism, which suppressed the charge recombination along with a fast detachment of electron–hole pairs(e^(-)–h^(+)) and significantly improved the severance of carriers, thus improved H_(2) evolution performance. These findings envision a new insight into the development of S-scheme heterostructure for photocatalytic H_(2) generation.