Al‐Incorporated Mesoporous Silica Supported ZnFe₂O₄ for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

Non-noble metal photocatalysts have received widespread attention with the popularity of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Here, a brand-new series of ZnFe 2 O 4 /Al-MCM-41 photocatalysts were synthesized with a simple hydrothermal strategy and analyzed through various characterizations. The results revealed that 40 % loading of Zinc ferrite (ZnFe 2 O 4 ) showed the most remarkable hydrogen evolution effect without noble metal decorated. It has a maximum photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of 4525.4 μmol g À 1 in 3 h, which is about 5.4 times higher than that of pure ZnFe 2 O 4 . These results are mainly owing to the loading of Al-MCM-41, which can provide more surface reaction sites and delay the recombination of charges and holes. Moreover, the composite shows good cyclability and stability, with a high hydrogen evolution after three repeated cycles.