Coconut shell carbon nanosheets facilitating electron transfer for highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production from water

Coconut shell carbon (CSC) nanosheets were applied to support CdS quantum dots (<= 5 nm) and Pt nanoparticles to form a composite Pt/CdS/CSC catalyst for the visible-light-driven photocatalytic H-2 production from water. The H-2 evolution rate on Pt/CdS/CSC is as high as 1679.5 mu mol h(-1), which is significantly enhanced as compared with that on Pt/CdS without CSC (636.2 mu mol h(-1)). Electrocatalytic experiments indicate a highly efficient electron transfer on the CSC nanosheets, which may be due to the presence of the abundant nanopores (<4 nm) and surface oxygen-containing groups behaving as the charge capture traps. The unique electron transfer flexibility of CSC facilitates the separation of the photoinduced electron-hole pairs on CdS/Pt/CSC in the photocatalytic process. This is the main origin for the significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance of CdS/Pt/CSC. It is believed that the findings from this study will provide useful clues for designing efficient biochar-based catalysts for visible-light-driven photocatalysis. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.