One-pot Synthesis of CdS Irregular Nanospheres Hybridized with Oxygen-Incorporated Defect-Rich MoS Ultrathin Nanosheets for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.

Robust and highly active photocatalysts, CdS@MoS, for hydrogen evolution were successfully fabricated by one-step growth of oxygen-incorporated defect-rich MoS ultrathin nanosheets on the surfaces of CdS with irregular fissures. Under optimized experimental conditions, the CdS@MoS displayed a quantum yield of ∼24.2% at 420 nm and the maximum H generation rate of ∼17203.7 umol/g/h using NaS-NaSO 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 MoS as co-catalysts using NaS-NaSO 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 MoS and CdS can effectively enhance the charge transfer ability and retard the recombination of electron-hole pairs; and (2) the defects in the MoS provide additional active S atoms on the exposed edge sites, and the incorporation of O reduces the energy barrier for H evolution and increases the electric conductivity of the MoS. Considering its low cost and high efficiency, this highly efficient hybrid photocatalysts would have great potential in energy-generation and environment-restoration fields.