Sunlight driven Eu2O3/CoNiZn-LDH@g-C3N4 ternary heterojunction nanocomposite photocatalyst for hydrogen generation

Photocatalytic H₂ generation is a prospective and ecologically suitable way of manufacturing green hydrogen (H₂). However, finding the best semiconducting substances with considerable performance is not easy. Inspired by this problem, we suggest in this work the use of a simple impregnation method for the customized sunlight-activated configurable broad-band gap semiconductor by coupling graphitic carbon nitride (CN) with Eu₂O₃/CoNiZn-LDH (LDH). Herein demonstrated the LDH loading on g-C₃N₄ surface impacted photocatalytic function by examining the hybrid ternary nanocomposites' microscopic, spectroscopic, and photophysical properties. Under sunlight, 60 wt% of Eu₂O₃/CoNiZn-LDH@g-C₃N₄ (60-LDHCN) nanocomposite exhibited highest rate of H₂ production (168.5 μmol h⁻¹g⁻¹_cat) explained by both density of catalytic active sites and intimate interface between different components of the catalyst facilitated effective separation/utilization of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. This correspondingly led to a 4.7-fold and 3.2-fold increase in H₂ generating efficiency of compared to CN (36.2 μmol h⁻¹g⁻¹_cat) and LDH (51.25 μmol h⁻¹g⁻¹_cat). Evidently, the photocurrent concentration of the 60-LDHCN nanocomposite depicted around 14.3 and 6.1 times better photocurrent than that of CN and LDH, respectively. The essential component of Type-II heterojunctions' immediate interaction between the semiconductors promoted charge separation and enhanced the number of surface-active sites through the absorption of sunlight.