Abstract

Robust and highly active photocatalysts, CdS@MoS2, for hydrogen evolution were successfully fabricated by one-step growth of oxygen-incorporated defect-rich MoS2 ultrathin nanosheets on the surfaces of CdS with irregular fissures. Under optimized experimental conditions, the CdS@MoS2 displayed a quantum yield of ∼24.2% at 420 nm and the maximum H2 generation rate of ∼17203.7 umol/g/h using Na2S-Na2SO3 as sacrificial agents (λ ≥ 420 nm), which is ∼47.3 and 14.7 times higher than CdS (∼363.8 μmol/g/h) and 3 wt % Pt/CdS (∼1173.2 μmol/g/h), respectively, and far exceeds all previous hydrogen evolution reaction photocatalysts with MoS2 as co-catalysts using Na2S-Na2SO3 as sacrificial agents. Large volumes of hydrogen bubbles were generated within only 2 s as the photocatalysis started, as demonstrated by the photocatalytic video. The high hydrogen evolution activity is attributed to several merits: (1) the intimate heterojunctions formed between the MoS2 and CdS can effectively enhance the charge transfer ability and retard the recombination of electron-hole pairs; and (2) the defects in the MoS2 provide additional active S atoms on the exposed edge sites, and the incorporation of O reduces the energy barrier for H2 evolution and increases the electric conductivity of the MoS2. Considering its low cost and high efficiency, this highly efficient hybrid photocatalysts would have great potential in energy-generation and environment-restoration fields.