2D heterostructure comprised of metallic 1T-MoS2/Monolayer O-g-C3N4 towards efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

- 1. Developing new materials for photocatalytic H2 evolution, like 1T-MoS2/O-g-C3N4 2D heterostructures.
- 2. A few 1T-MoS2 can significantly improve the photocatalytic H2 evolution activity of O-g-C3N4.
- 3. The activity of 2D heterostructures far exceeds the performance using Pt as co-catalyst at low content.
- 4. 1T-MoS2/O-g-C3N4 2D heterostructure shows the high external quantum efficiency and TOF.

Efficient separation of hole-electron pair plays a crucial role in enhancing photocatalytic water splitting activity, which essentially requires a noble metal co-catalyst. Here we report that two-dimensional (2D) metallic 1T-MoS2 can exceed the performance of noble metal like Pt as a co-catalyst in assisting the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over 2D semiconductor such as oxygenated monolayer graphitic carbon nitride (O-g-C3N4). The abundance of intrinsic active site for hydrogen evolution reaction for 1T-MoS2 partly contributes to the outstanding performance of 1T-MoS2/O-g-C3N4 system. More importantly, the 2D heterostructure junction of 2D metals-2D semiconductor through van der Waals interaction minimizes the Schottky barrier, which in turn improves the charge transfer efficiency. The optimal 1T-MoS2/O-g-C3N4 exhibited H2 evolution rate as high as ∼1841.72 μmol/g/h, an external quantum efficiency of ∼7.11% at λ = 420 nm, and a super high TOF of 156.6 h−1.

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