Terpyridine\nNi(II) Complex Grafted CdS Nanorods for\nCooperative Selective Benzyl Alcohol Oxidation and Hydrogen Production

Efficient utilization of photogenerated charge carriers\nto realize\nphotocatalytic solar fuel production and oxidative chemical synthesis\nis a challenging task. Herein, a conventional amidation reaction route\nis adopted to successfully construct a novel composite photocatalyst\ncomposed of a Ni(II)–terpyridine complex with carboxyl groups\ngrafted on CdS nanorods (labeled as CdS@Ni(terpyC)<sub>2</sub>). Experimental\nresults have unequivocally revealed that the as-fabricated composite\ncatalyst exhibited a remarkable enhancement in photocatalytic activity\nfor the dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol under visible light, demonstrating\nsuperior hydrogen evolution efficiency and benzaldehyde selectivity,\nsurpassing both pristine CdS and the blend of CdS and Ni(terpyC)<sub>2</sub>. The carrier dynamics study demonstrated that the Ni(terpyC)<sub>2</sub> on the surface of CdS could quickly extract the photogenerated\nelectrons of CdS, which reduced the carrier recombination efficiency,\nfurther improving the photocatalytic activity of the catalyst. This\nwork illustrates the effect of surface active site engineering on\nphotocatalysis and is expected to shed substantial inspiration on\nfuture surface modulation and design of semiconductor photocatalysts.