Interfacial hydrogen bonds and polarization coupled-interfacial electric field accelerating spatial charge transfer...

Both high speed charge transfer channel and controllable electric fields are recognized as effective strategies to accelerate the charge transfer kinetics and enhance activity in photocatalysis. In this work, we construct a series of dual-defective O-vacancy-rich CoNi-LDH/S-vacancy-rich ZnCdS-based S-scheme heterostructure photocatalysts (V_O-LDH/V_S-ZCS). In such catalysts, V_S-ZCS contributes to H₂O photoreduction to H₂, accompanied by photothermal effect and oxidation reactions from V_O-LDH. Experimental results combined with theoretical calculations reveal that the existence of dual vacancies V_O-V_S not only provides V_O-LDH/V_S-ZCS S-scheme heterojunction effective electron reservoirs but also establishes robust dipole polarization electric field (PEF) and interfacial electric field (IEF). The synergistic effect between PEF and IEF can be amplified by the formation of interfacial hydrogen bond channel and S-scheme transfer mode. The above intrinsic and interfacial optimizations allow for accelerated charge transfer dynamics in V_O-LDH/V_S-ZCS photothermal catalyst, and facilitates the adsorption/desorption of H₂O/H*, consequently resulting in a remarkable activity in hydrogen production (80.6 mmol·g_cat^-1·h^-1, AQY = 23.7% at 420 nm) and fast photodegradation of tetracycline (k = 0.0267 min^-1), which exceeding the majority of reported ZnCdS-based photocatalysts. By elucidating how hydrogen bonded S-scheme heterostructure with dual defects influence the photo-induced charge transfer kinetics and photocatalytic performance, this work contributes to the sustainable and efficient development of S-scheme photocatalyst in energy conversion reactions.