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Extended visible light harvesting and boosted charge carrier dynamics in heterostructured zirconate–FeS2 photocatalysts for efficient solar water splitting

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Abstract

Limited visible light absorption, slow charge transference, and high recombination are some of the main problems associated with low efficiency in photocatalytic processes. For these reasons, in the present work, we develope novel zirconate–FeS2 heterostructured photocatalysts with improved visible light harvesting, effective charge separation and high photocatalytic water splitting performance. Herein, alkali and alkaline earth metal zirconates are prepared by a solid state reaction and coupled to FeS2 through a simple wet impregnation method. The incorporation of FeS2 particles induces visible light absorption and electron injection in zirconates, while the appropriate coupling of the semiconductors in the heterostructure allows an enhanced charge separation and suppression of the recombination. The obtained heterostructures exhibit high and stable photocatalytic activity for water splitting under visible light, showing competitive efficiencies among other reported materials. The highest hydrogen evolution rate (4490 µmol g−1 h−1) is shown for BaZrO3–FeS2 and corresponds to more than 20 times the activity of the bare BaZrO3. In summary, this work proposes novel visible light active heterostructures for efficient visible light photocatalytic water splitting.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank CONACYT (CB-256795-2016, CB-2014-237049, INFRA-2015-252753, PN-2015-01-487, NRF-2016-278729, and PhD Scholarship 386267), SEP (PROFOCIE-2014-19-MSU0011T-1, PRODEP-103.5/15/14156), UANL (PAICYT 2018 IT633-18), FIC-UANL (PAIFIC 2015-5) and the Swedish Research Council Formas. J.M. Mora-Hernandez thanks to Cátedras CONACYT ID7708.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecomateriales y Energía, Facultad de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, UANL, Av. Universidad S/N Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 66455, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

    Ali M. Huerta-Flores, Leticia M. Torres-Martínez, D. Sánchez-Martínez & María E. Zarazúa-Morín

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Av. Manuel Nava #6, S.L.P. 78290, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

    Ali M. Huerta-Flores & Edgar Moctezuma

  3. Departamento de Ecomateriales y Energía, Facultad de Ingeniería Civil, CONACYT - Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, UANL, Av. Universidad S/N Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 66455, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

    J. M. Mora-Hernández

  4. Division of Chemical Physics, Department of Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Björn Wickman

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  1. Ali M. Huerta-Flores
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Correspondence to Leticia M. Torres-Martínez.

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Huerta-Flores, A.M., Mora-Hernández, J.M., Torres-Martínez, L.M. et al. Extended visible light harvesting and boosted charge carrier dynamics in heterostructured zirconate–FeS2 photocatalysts for efficient solar water splitting. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 29, 18957–18970 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-0019-8

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