Noble metal-free MoS 2 modified Mn 0.25 Cd 0.75 S for highly efficient visible-light driven photocatalytic H 2 evolution

Development of noble metal-free and highly efficient co-catalyst that endows semiconductor materials with high performance is of great significance towards enhancing photocatalytic H 2 evolution. Herein, a series of novel Mn 0.25 Cd 0.75 S/MoS 2 composites have been successfully prepared by a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared photocatalysts for H 2 production from water splitting under visible-light irradiation (λ ≥ 400 nm) was investigated. The results showed that Mn 0.25 Cd 0.75 S/MoS 2 heterostructured composites have a higher photocatalytic activity than Mn 0.25 Cd 0.75 S, implying that the intimate interfacial contact between Mn 0.25 Cd 0.75 S and MoS 2 facilitates electron transfer from Mn 0.25 Cd 0.75 S to MoS 2, thus promoting the separation of photogenerated charge carriers and providing more active sites for H 2 evolution reaction. The introduction of noble metal-free MoS 2 co-catalyst led to a remarkable improvement in the photocatalytic H 2 evolution activity of Mn 0.25 Cd 0.75 S, and the content of MoS 2 in composite had an important influence on the photocatalytic activity. It was confirmed that 0.7 wt% of MoS 2 loading content achieves a maximum photocatalytic H 2 evolution rate of 12.47 mmol g −1 h −1, which was much higher than that of Mn 0.25 Cd 0.75 S and also slightly higher than that of Mn 0.25 Cd 0.75 S/Pt (1.0 wt%). This work revealed that low cost MoS 2 could replace noble metal Pt as a highly efficient co-catalyst in enhancing the photocatalytic activity of semiconductor materials.