Boosting charge transfer and hydrogen evolution performance of CdS nanocrystals hybridized with MoS2 nanosheets under visible light irradiation

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) has been currently emerged as a promising class of photocatalyst candidates toward hydrogen evolution from water photosplitting because of its unique electronic structure and favorable optical property . However, pure CdS often suffers from the poor stability and fast charge carrier recombination. Cocatalyst engineering is an effective strategy to activate photocatalytic performance of CdS but remains a challenge. Herein, we develop an effective hydrothermal method to construct microwave-derived CdS nanocrystals hybridized with MoS 2 nanosheets . Such hybrids bear the nanocrystal-on-nanosheet heterostructures , ensuring the intimate interfacial contact and increased charge transfer kinetics. The resulting CdS/MoS 2 hybrids exhibit highly efficient photoreactivity and excellent photostability for hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation. The hydrogen generation rate achieved by the optimal CdS/MoS 2 is approximately 286 times higher than that of pure CdS. This remarkably boosted performance could be ascribed to synergistically interfacial effect that brings an energy-beneficial driving force to realize the highly efficient transfer, migration, and separation of photoexcited charge carriers.