Building a novel noble metal-free Cu₃P/ZnS/g-C₃N₄ ternary nanocomposite with multi interfacial charge transfer pathways for highly enhanced photocatalytic water splitting

For renewable energy, it is crucial to create effective photocatalysts with enhanced photo charge separation and transfer to produce photocatalytic hydrogen (H₂) efficiently utilizing light energy. Due to their distinct qualities and features, carbonaceous materials have so far been shown to be high-performance co-catalysts to substitute some conventionally costly metal materials in photocatalytic water splitting. Here, a novel ternary nanocomposite, simple hydrothermal process ball milling assisted and wet impregnation approach, a promising ternary nanocomposite is created as an efficient solar light driven photocatalyst. Utilizing a variety of analytical techniques, 3 % Cu₃P/ZnS/g-C₃N₄ nanocomposites as catalysts were characterized in order to check the hydrogen production and investigate their structural properties. The hydrogen production capability of the catalyst is studied by irradiating Na₂SO₃ + Na₂S solutes using a halogen bulb (250 W). The results demonstrated that in terms of photocatalytic activity towards H₂ production, 3 % Cu₃P/ZnS/g-C₃N₄ catalyst performed better than 3 % Cu₃P/ZnS, Cu₃P, ZnS, and g-C₃N₄. A composite containing 7.5 wt% g-C₃N₄ demonstrated exceptional durability during photocatalytic hydrogen production, resulting in a 23,086 mol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ rate. Higher stability in electron-hole pairs created a higher absorption level of solar light could be responsible for this remarkable performance.