Hydrogen production through photocatalytic water splitting has attracted much attention because of its potential to solve the issues of environmental pollution and energy shortage. In this work, CdS/CuS/g-CN ternary heterostructures are fabricated by ion exchange between CdS and Cu and subsequent ultrasonication-assisted self-assembly of CdS/CuS and g-CN, which provide excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution without any noble metal cocatalyst. With the presence of p-n junction, tuned band gap alignments, and higher charge carrier density in the CdS/CuS/g-CN ternary heterostructures that can effectively promote the spatial separation and prolong the lifetime of photogenerated electrons, a high hydrogen evolution rate of 3570 μmol g h, an apparent quantum yield of 4.4% at 420 nm, and remarkable recycling stability are achieved. We believe that the as-synthesized CdS/CuS/g-CN ternary heterostructures can be promising noble metal-free catalysts for enhanced hydrogen production from photocatalytic water splitting.
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