Issue 4, 2022

Enhancing interfacial charge transfer in mesoporous MoS2/CdS nanojunction architectures for highly efficient visible-light photocatalytic water splitting

Abstract

Modulating the heterojunction interfaces at the nanoscale is paramount to developing effective photocatalysts. Nanodimensional heterostructures, essentially, expose a large fraction of active edge sites, which, along with excellent electronic communication, can result in high solar energy to chemical fuel conversion efficiencies. In this work, mesoporous heterojunction architectures made of ultrasmall MoS2 nanolayers (ca. 10–15 nm in lateral size) and sub 5 nm sized CdS nanocrystals have been prepared through a polymer-templated oxidative aggregation of CdS nanocrystals followed by a wet-chemical deposition of exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets on the CdS surface. Thorough chemical, morphological and structural investigations by electron microprobe analysis, X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and N2 physisorption prove that the MoS2-modified CdS nanocatalysts are composed of a porous network of connected cubic CdS nanocrystals and 2H-phase MoS2 nanosheets and possess a high internal BET surface area (ca. 159–225 m2 g−1) and uniform pores (ca. 6–9 nm in diameter). Photocatalytic studies coupled with UV–vis/NIR, photoluminescence and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements indicate that the nanoscale MoS2/CdS junctions provide more efficient electronic connectivity and charge carrier dissociation across the catalyst interfaces, resulting in a remarkable enhancement in the photocatalytic H2 production activity. The optimized MoS2/CdS catalyst at 20 wt% MoS2 content achieves a H2 production rate up to ∼0.4 mmol h−1 (or ∼19 mmol h−1 g−1 mass activity) with remarkable stability under visible light irradiation, corresponding to an overall 6.7× enhancement of H2 generation efficiency relative to the unmodified CdS. We also obtained an apparent quantum yield (AQY) of 51.2% for the hydrogen generation reaction using monochromatic light of 420 nm.

Graphical abstract: Enhancing interfacial charge transfer in mesoporous MoS2/CdS nanojunction architectures for highly efficient visible-light photocatalytic water splitting

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
09 Oct 2021
Accepted
23 Dec 2021
First published
23 Dec 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Inorg. Chem. Front., 2022,9, 625-636

Enhancing interfacial charge transfer in mesoporous MoS2/CdS nanojunction architectures for highly efficient visible-light photocatalytic water splitting

C. Patriarchea, I. Vamvasakis, E. D. Koutsouroubi and G. S. Armatas, Inorg. Chem. Front., 2022, 9, 625 DOI: 10.1039/D1QI01278A

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