Preciously Determining Energy Levels and Screening Extraction Medium to Design Highly Efficient Carriers Transport Pathways for Zn‐CuInS₂ Quantum Dots Based H₂ Generation Application

Abstract

With the creation of long-lived defect states-related donoracceptor pair (DAP) recombination pathway, the Zn doped CuInS 2 quantum dots (CIZS QDs) sensitized TiO 2 photoelectrode displayed a good photocurrent response ability with a density of 2.7 mA/cm 2 . Further introduction Au nanoparticles (NPs) between CIZS and TiO 2 , and the outermost layer CdS, the photocurrent of CdS-CIZSÀ Au-TiO 2 reached 7.5 mA/cm 2 with an increase of 75% and 175%, respectively. The enhancements both in photo-conversion ability and photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation reactivity can be mainly attributed to the functions of Au NPs acting as electron traps to help separate the long-lived carriers of CIZS QDs and subsequently improve interfacial charge transfer, as well as CdS's ability to enhance holes extraction.