Fabrication of CdS Frame-in-Cage Particles for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation under Visible-Light Irradiation

The design of advanced structures for semiconductor photocatalysts is an effective approach to enhance their performance toward solar-to-chemical energy conversion. Hollow and frame-like structures show advantageous features for photocatalytic reactions with enlarged surface area, shortened charge-transfer distance, promoted light-absorption ability, and enhanced mass-transfer capability. Here, a facile two-step sulfidation strategy is developed to fabricate unique CdS frame-in-cage particles for photocatalytic hydrogen generation. Cd-based Prussian blue analog (Cd-PBA) cubes are first converted to Cd-PBA cube-in-CdS cage particles, which are further transformed to CdS frame-in-cage particles. Benefiting from the novel frame-in-cage structure, the obtained CdS photocatalyst exhibits high activity under visible-light irradiation with the hydrogen generation rate of 13.6 mmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹, which is much enhanced compared with those of the CdS cubes and cages. © 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH