MoS2-coated microspheres of self-sensitized carbon nitride for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen generation under visible light irradiation

• Main Authors: Gao, Ziwei, Xue, Can, Gu, Quan, Sun, Huaming, Xie, Zunyuan
• Other Authors: School of Materials Science & Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Graphitic Carbon Nitride; Molybdenum Disulfide
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/86681; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44118
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

We have successfully coated the self-sensitized carbon nitride (SSCN) microspheres with a layer of MoS2 through a facile one-pot hydrothermal method by using (NH4)2MoS4 as the precursor. The resulted MoS2-coated SSCN photocatalyst appears as a core-shell structure and exhibits enhanced visible-light activities for photocatalytic H2 generation as compared to the un-coated SSCN and the standard g-C3N4 reference with MoS2 coating. The photocatalytic test results suggest that the oligomeric s-triazine dyes on the SSCN surface can provide additional light-harvesting capability and photogenerated charge carriers, and the coated MoS2 layer can serve as active sites for proton reduction towards H2 evolution. This synergistic effect of surface triazine dyes and MoS2 coating greatly promotes the activity of carbon nitride microspheres for vishible-light-driven H2 generation. This work provides a new way of future development of low-cost noble-metal-free photocatalysts for efficient solar-driven hydrogen production.