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The generation of hydrogen-based energy and environmental remediation using sunlight is an emerging topic of great significance for meeting the ever-growing global need.

The solar-to-fuel conversion using a photocatalyst is an ideal method to solve the energy crisis and global warming. In this contribution, photocatalytic H 2 production and organic pollutant removal using g-C 3 N 4 / CuS composite was demonstrated. Well dispersed CuS nanoparticles (NPs) with a size of about 10 nm were successfully grown on the surface of g-C 3 N 4 nanosheet via a facile hydrothermal method. The asprepared g-C 3 N 4 /CuS nanocomposite at an optimized loading exhibited a much higher visible light photoactivity, giving up to 2.7 times and 1.5 times enhancements in comparison to pure g-C 3 N 4 for photocatalytic H 2 production and methylene orange (MO) degradation, respectively. These enhanced photocatalytic activities are attributed to the interfacial transfer of photogenerated electrons and holes between g-C 3 N 4 and CuS, which leads to effective charge separation on both parts. That is, under the visible light irradiation, electrons in the valence band (VB) of g-C 3 N 4 can directly transfer to the CuS NPs, which can act as an electron sink and co-catalyst to promote the separation and transfer of photogenerated electrons, thus significantly improving the photocatalytic efficiency. Fig. 4 (A) The photodegradation activities of MO as a function of time over different photocatalysts under visible light irradiation (>420 nm), (B) the value of the rate constant k of the photodegradation of MO in the presence of as-prepared photocatalysts, (C) cycling runs of g-C 3 N 4 / 0.5 wt% CuS photocatalyst in the photodegradation of MO under visible light irradiation (>420 nm), and (D) photodegradation of MO in the presence of three types of scavengers and g-C 3 N 4 /0.5 wt% CuS photocatalyst under visible light irradiation (>420 nm).This journal is