Abstract H2 is an important energy carrier for replacing fossil fuel in the future due to its high energy density and environmental friendliness. As a sustainable H2-generation method, photocatalytic H2 production by water splitting has attracted much interest. Here, oil-soluble ZnxCd1–xS quantum dot (ZCS QD) with a uniform particle size distribution were prepared by a hot-injection method. However, no photocatalytic H2-production activity was observed for the oil-soluble ZCS QD due to its hydrophobicity. Thus, the oil-soluble ZCS QD was converted into a water-soluble ZCS QD by a ligand-exchange method. The water-soluble ZCS QD exhibited excellent photocatalytic H2-production performance in the presence of glycerin and Ni2+, with an apparent quantum efficiency of 15.9% under irradiation of 420 nm light. Further, the photocatalytic H2-generation activity of the ZCS QD was ∼10.7 times higher than that of the ZnxCd1–xS relative samples prepared by the conventional co-precipitation method. This work will inspire the design and fabrication of other semiconductor QD photocatalysts because QD exhibits excellent separation efficiency for photogenerated electron–hole pairs due to its small crystallite size.

中文翻译：

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具有增强的光催化制氢性能的 Zn Cd1-S 量子点

摘要 H2具有能量密度高、环境友好等优点，是未来替代化石燃料的重要能源载体。作为一种可持续的制氢方法，光催化水分解制氢引起了广泛关注。在这里，通过热注射方法制备了具有均匀粒径分布的油溶性 ZnxCd1-xS 量子点（ZCS QD）。然而，由于其疏水性，油溶性 ZCS QD 没有观察到光催化产氢活性。因此，通过配体交换方法将油溶性 ZCS QD 转化为水溶性 ZCS QD。水溶性 ZCS QD 在甘油和 Ni2+ 存在下表现出优异的光催化制氢性能，在 420 nm 光照射下的表观量子效率为 15.9%。更多，ZCS QD 的光催化产氢活性比通过常规共沉淀方法制备的 ZnxCd1-xS 相关样品高约 10.7 倍。这项工作将启发其他半导体量子点光催化剂的设计和制造，因为量子点由于其微晶尺寸小而对光生电子 - 空穴对表现出优异的分离效率。