Research paper by Assistant Professor Haruki Nagakawa and a co-author selected for the English academic journal Cover
crerc_kanriA research paper titled “Morphology Optimization of CdS–Pt Photocatalyst by Photoetching for Hydrogen Production with High Quantum Efficiency” by Assistant Professor Haruki Nagakawa from the CRERC Synthes Unit and a co-author has been selected as the Inside Front Cover of the September 18, 2025 issue of Chemical Communications.
Haruki Nagakawa, Tetsu Tatsuma
Morphology optimization of CdS-Pt photocatalyst by photoetching for hydrogen production with high quantum efficiency
Chemical Communications, Volume 61, Issue 73, September 2025, Pages 13868–13871.
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CC04077A
Selected as “Inside Front Cover”
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CC90299A
Hydrogen is essential as a raw material for the carbon recycling systems. Photocatalytic reactions are a method of producing hydrogen from water using solar energy, and are attracting attention as a means of producing green hydrogen. In particular, the external quantum efficiency (an indicator showing the extent to which incident light is utilized in the hydrogen production reaction) is highly valued in evaluating photocatalytic activity, and the major challenge lies in how to bring this efficiency closer to 100%.
In this study, we synthesized highly crystalline cadmium sulfide (CdS) by a molten salt treatment and deposited a platinum (Pt) co-catalyst to obtain Pt-CdS. Furthermore, it was revealed that when light irradiation is applied in the presence of lactic acid, etching proceeds along the [001] direction of wurtzite-type CdS, transforming it into a particle morphology where columnar structures remain. After this processing, the Pt-CdS exhibited improved stability due to the reduced exposure of the unstable (001) surface, and at the same time, the utilization efficiency of excited carriers was increased, resulting in extremely high hydrogen production activity with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 86%. The photoetching-based morphology optimization method established in this study can be applied to a variety of photocatalysts, and is expected to lead to the practical application of highly efficient hydrogen production reactions.
