Photocatalytic hydrogen (H₂) production is a cascade reaction that involves multiple limiting steps, such as light-harvesting, charge separation and transfer, redox reaction rate, and so on. Thus, there is a need to optimize each reaction node to promote the photocatalytic H₂ production efficiency for the commercial application of sustainable energy. Herein, we report integrally designed CdS-Cu_1.81S heteronanorods (HNRs) for photocatalytic H₂ production driven by near-infrared to ultraviolet irradiation. The intraparticle p-n junction and the well-constructed heterointerface result in highly efficient charge separation and transfer between the heterogeneous domains. Further adjusting the redox reaction sites on the surface of CdS-Cu_1.81S HNRs leads to a high photocatalytic H₂ production rate of 2.714 mmol·h⁻¹·g⁻¹, representing 150-fold and 108-fold improvements compared with pristine Cu_1.81S and CdS nanorods (NRs), respectively. Our work provides an alternative entry point for boosting the performance of noble-metal-free photocatalyst and highlights the importance of synergetic design.

光催化制氢（H ₂）是一个级联反应，涉及多个限制步骤，如光捕获、电荷分离和转移、氧化还原反应速率等。因此，需要优化每个反应节点以提高光催化H ₂生产效率，以实现可持续能源的商业应用。在此，我们报告了集成设计的 CdS-Cu _1.81 S 异质纳米棒 (HNRs)，用于由近红外到紫外辐射驱动的光催化 H ₂生产。颗粒内pn结和结构良好的异质界面导致异质域之间的高效电荷分离和转移。进一步调整 CdS-Cu _1.81 S HNRs表面的氧化还原反应位点导致光催化 H ₂产率高达 2.714 mmol·h ^-1 ·g ^-1，与原始 Cu 相比提高了 150 倍和 108 倍_{分别为 1.81} S 和 CdS 纳米棒 (NRs)。我们的工作为提高无贵金属光催化剂的性能提供了一个替代切入点，并强调了协同设计的重要性。