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Significant Enhancement of Hydrogen Production in MoS 2 /Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 Nanoparticles
Author(s) -
Li Yulan,
Zhou Zhihua,
Lin Yuelai,
Ji Haining,
Li Handong,
Wu Jiang,
Ashalley Eric,
Usman Muhammad,
Bao Jiming,
Niu Xiaobin,
Wang Zhiming
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
particle and particle systems characterization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-4117
pISSN - 0934-0866
DOI - 10.1002/ppsc.201700472
Subject(s) - nanoparticle , materials science , hydrogen production , hydrogen , reducing agent , catalysis , conduction band , chemical engineering , czts , nanotechnology , electron , chemistry , thin film , physics , biochemistry , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , engineering
Hydrogen produced from water splitting is a renewable and clean energy source. Great efforts have been paid in searching for inexpensive and highly efficient photocatalysts. Here, significant enhancement of hydrogen production has been achieved by introducing ≈1 mol% of MoS 2 to Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 nanoparticles. The MoS 2 /Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 nanoparticles showed a hydrogen evolution rate of ≈0.47 mmol g −1 h −1 in the presence of sacrificial agents, which is 7.8 times that of Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 nanoparticles (0.06 mmol g −1 h −1 ). In addition, the MoS 2 /Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 nanoparticles exhibited high stability, and only ≈3% of catalytic activity was lost after a long time irradiation (72 h). Microstructure investigation on the MoS 2 /Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 nanoparticles reveals that the intimate contact between the nanostructured MoS 2 and Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 nanoparticles provides an effective one‐way expressway for photogenerated electrons transferring from the conduction band of Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 to MoS 2 , thus boosting the lifetime of charge carriers, as well as reducing the recombination rate of electrons and holes.