The well-designed Mo₂C/TiO₂ hierarchical configuration exhibits extremely high photocatalytic H₂ production activity from water splitting.

Design and preparation of noble-metal-free photocatalysts is of great importance for photocatalytic water splitting harvesting solar energy. Here, we report the high visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution upon the hybrid photocatalyst system consisting of CdS nanocrystals and Ni@NiO nanoparticles grown on the surface of g-C₃N₄. The hybrid system shows a high H₂-production rate of 1258.7 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ in the presence of triethanolamine as a sacrificial electron donor under visible light irradiation. The synergetic catalytic mechanism has been studied and the results of photovoltaic and photoluminescence properties show that efficient electron transfer could be achieved from g-C₃N₄ to CdS nanocrystals and subsequently to Ni@NiO hybrid.

Semiconductor-based photocatalytic hydrogen (H₂) evolution from water is of great importance for solar-to-chemical conversion processes to boost and promote the future hydrogen economy. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate that p-Cu₃P coupled with n-TiO₂ forms a novel hybrid structure which accelerates electron–hole pair separation and transfer for improved photocatalytic H₂-evolution activity. The rate of H₂ evolution of the optimized Cu₃P/TiO₂ (7940 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹) is 11 times higher than that of bare TiO₂, with an apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 4.6%. This work may provide more insight into the synthesis of novel phosphide-based hybrid materials with high photocatalytic H₂-evolution activity and sufficient stability for solar-to-chemical conversion and utilization.