Synthesis of Photocorrosion‐Resistant VS₄‐MoS₂‐rGO Based Nanocomposite with Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water‐Splitting Activity

Abstract

For increasing demands of clean and sustainable energy, two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (2D-TMDs) have attracted great attention. Electrocatalysis, photoelectrochemical water splitting and photovoltaic activities are considered a suitable route for fulfilling this demand.Here, we have used hydrothermally synthesized vanadium sulfide (VS 4 ) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) composite heterostructures for photocatalytic based renewable energy production. The catalytic activity of VS 4 observed for the water splitting process makes it a potential candidate for the applications. At the same time, it suffers from photogener-ated charge recombination and photocorrosion which limits its catalytic performances. The key motivation of this work was to diminish the charge recombination via appropriate composite formation with MoS 2 as well as to minimize the photocorrosion of resulting materials with the support of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Eventually, separation of photogenerated charge carriers and anti-photocorrosion property of the VS 4 -MoS 2 -rGO based composite leads to its efficient catalyst for photocatalytic water splitting applications. The resulting composite shows 4.5 times higher catalytic activity and stability than bare constituent materials.

Enhancing the activity and stability of Cu2O nanorods via coupling with a NaNbO3/SnS2 heterostructure for photoelectrochemical water-splitting

“…We can calculate the band-edge positions of the semiconductor photocatalyst using the following empirical formula: 74 E CB = X + E 0 − 0.5 E g E VB = E CB + E g where the conduction band (CB) and valence band (VB) edge positions are represented by E CB and E VB , respectively. X is the electronegativity of the semiconductor, which is calculated by the following formula 75 [( A ) a X ( B ) b X ( C ) c ] 1/( a + b + c ) where E 0 is the scaling factor (−4.5 eV for a normal hydrogen electrode) and E g is the bandgap of the semiconductor.…”

Advancement of Physical and Photoelectrochemical Properties of Nanostructured CdS Thin Films toward Optoelectronic Applications

“…In this work, the Mott-Schottky technique was used to calculate the donor or acceptor concentration and identify the type of deposited films. The Mott-Schottky graph (1/C 2 vs. V) was investigated using the supporting electrolyte of 0.5 M Na 2 SO 4 [55]. Figure 12 shows the Mott-Schottky relation for the grown CdS thin films at various temperatures that were measured at a frequency of 1000 Hz.…”

Nanomaterials of Carbon and Metal Sulfides in Photocatalysis

“…The development of heterogeneous photocatalysts by combining metal sulfides and different carbon nanomaterials has been explored as an effective strategy to obtain high-performance photocatalysts. Owing to delocalized electrons from the conjugative π-system, graphitic carbon nanostructures are good at accepting and shuttling the photogenerated electrons from semiconductor photocatalysts; hence, effectively separating the electron-hole pairs [89][90][91][92][93]. For instance, Wan et al have shown that the synergistic influence of charge-carrier migration, advanced excited states, and suitable Fermi levels between CdS phases and graphene leads to enhanced photoactivity and stability [94].…”