Hollow MoS2-supported MAPbI3 composites for effective photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Metal halide perovskites represented by methylamine lead iodine (MAPbI₃) have attracted extensive attention for their excellent performance in the field of photoelectric catalysis. However, the catalytic performance of MAPbI₃ is limited due to the severe recombination of electrons and holes. Here, we synthesized hollow MoS₂ (H-MoS₂) microspheres by the template method and then supported it on the surface of MAPbI₃ by electrostatic coupling to obtain H-MoS₂/MAPbI₃ composites, which showed excellent performance in photocatalytic hydrogen production. Among them, the 15% H-MoS₂/MAPbI₃ composite showed the highest photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance, which was 399 μmol h⁻¹, about 260 times that of MAPbI₃ (1.53 μmol h⁻¹). The long-term cycling experiments showed that the H-MoS₂/MAPbI₃ composite retains its activity for at least 16 h. The excellent performance of H-MoS₂/MAPbI₃ composites was attributed to the efficient shunting of photogenerated electrons and holes by H-MoS₂ as a cocatalyst. The results of our study provided a reference for the construction of MAPbI₃-based composite heterostructures for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production.