Emerging Trends in CdS‐Based Nanoheterostructures: From Type‐II and Z‐Scheme toward S‐Scheme Photocatalytic H2 Production

• Published in: Chemical record 2024-12, Vol.24 (12), p.e202400127-n/a
• Main Authors: Ullah, Ikram, Zhao, Pei, Qin, Ning, Chen, Shuai, Li, Jing‐Han, Xu, An‐Wu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cadmium; Cadmium sulfide; CdS-based heterojunctions; Charge transfer; Heterojunctions; Hydrogen production; photocatalytic H2 production; S-scheme; Sustainable energy; type-II; Water splitting; Z-scheme
• ISSN: 1527-8999; 1528-0691; 1528-0691
• DOI: 10.1002/tcr.202400127

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) based heterojunctions, including type‐II, Z‐scheme, and S‐scheme systems emerged as promising materials for augmenting photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) generation from water splitting. This review offers an exclusive highlight of their fundamental principles, synthesis routes, charge transfer mechanisms, and performance properties in improving H2 production. We overview the crucial roles of Type‐II heterojunctions in enhancing charge separation, Z‐scheme heterojunctions in promoting redox potentials to reduce electron‐hole (e−/h+) pairs recombination, and S‐scheme heterojunctions in combining the merits of both type‐II and Z‐scheme frameworks to obtain highly efficient H2 production. The importance of this review is demonstrated by its thorough comparison of these three configurations, presenting valuable insights into their special contributions and capability for augmenting photocatalytic H2 activity. Additionally, key challenges and prospects in the practical applications of CdS‐based heterojunctions are addressed, which provides a comprehensive route for emerging research in achieving sustainable energy goals. The recent advances in CdS‐based type‐II, Z‐scheme, and S‐scheme heterojunctions and its applications in photocatalytic H2 production are exclusively highlighted. This review provides an exclusive highlight of their fundamentals, preparation strategies, charge transport mechanism, and performance properties of these configurations in boosting H2 generation. Furthermore, the review offers insights into the current challenges and future prospects of CdS‐based heterostructures for practical applications.