Improvement in the Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production of Flower-Shaped ZnIn2S4 by Surface Modification with Amino Silane

Abstract

ZnIn2S4 has attracted extensive attention in the field of photocatalytic hydrogen production because of its suitable band gap and excellent photoelectrochemical properties. However, its lower photogenerated carrier separation efficiency and high degree of photocorrosion severely restricts its photocatalytic activity. In this work, the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance of ZnIn2S4 modified with 3-aminopropylmethoxysilane was studied. Surface modification by amino silane not only regulated the band gap and enhanced the light absorption of ZnIn2S4 but it also increased the colloidal stability of the ZnIn2S4 suspension and enhanced the adsorption of H+ on the active surface sites, thereby improving the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. Compared with that of unmodified ZnIn2S4, the photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of surface-modified ZnIn2S4 increased by 1.46 times, and after four cycles for 12 h, the hydrogen production efficiency remained at 75.14%.