Amorphous MoSx on CdS nanorods for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Loading cocatalyst on semiconductors was crucially necessary for improving the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Amorphous MoSx as a novel and noble metal -free cocatalyst was loaded on CdS nanorods by a simple photodeposition method. Efficient hydrogen evolution with amount of 15 mmol h(-1) g(-1) was observed over the MoSx modified CdS nanorods, which was about 6 times higher than that by using Pt as cocatalyst. Meanwhile, with MoSx cocatalyst, the efficiency of CdS nanorods was superior to that of CdS nanoparticles and bulk CdS. No deactivation could be observed in the efficiency of MoSx modified CdS nanorods under irradiation for successive 10 h. Further experimental results indicated that the efficient electrons transfer, low overpotential of hydrogen evolution and active S atoms over the MoSx modified CdS nanorods were responsible for the higher efficiency. Our results provided guidance for synthesizing noble metal -free materials as cocatalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.