Novel green synthesis of Ag2S from Diospyros kaki and its application for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

The development of efficient photocatalysts to produce hydrogen from water is of great interest, both for reducing dependence on fossil fuels and for a clean environment. In this work, we designed and studied an Ag2S photocatalyst for hydrogen generation from water. Ag2S nanoparticles were synthesized from Diospyros kaki fruit by green synthesis method. In addition, three different systems were utilized as sacrificial electron donors which are Na2S/Na2SO3, methanol, and lactic acid solution for the photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light. The Ag2S nanoparticles demonstrate enhanced hydrogen evolution activity in Na2S/Na2SO3 (2753.3 μmol g−1 h−1) as a sacrificial electron donor compared to the lactic acid (1076.1 μmol g−1 h−1) and methanol (354.12 μmol g−1 h−1) as sacrificial electron donors, respectively. We believe that Ag2S nanoparticles obtained by green synthesis will shed light on different studies in the future as an environmentally friendly photocatalyst.