Tuning Band Alignments and Charge-Transport Properties through MoSe₂ Bridging between MoS₂ and Cadmium Sulfide for Enhanced Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Transition-metal dichalcogenide materials play a major role in the state-of-the-art innovations for energy conversion because of potential applications resulting from their unique properties. These materials additionally show inordinate potential toward the progress of hygienic power sources to deal with increasing environmental disputes at the time of skyrocketing energy demands. Herein, we report earth-abundant, few-layered, MoSe₂-bridged MoS₂/cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanocomposites, which reduce photogenerated electron and hole recombination by effectively separating charge carriers to achieve a high photocatalytic efficiency. Accordingly, the MoSe₂-bridged MoS₂/CdS system produced effective hydrogen (193 μmol·h^-1) as that of water using lactic acid as a hole scavenger with the irradiation of solar light. The presence of few-layered MoSe₂ bridges in MoS₂/CdS successfully separates photogenerated charge carriers, thereby enhancing the shuttling of electrons on the surface to active edge sites. To the best of our knowledge, this few-layered MoSe₂-bridged MoS₂/CdS system exhibits the most effective concert among altogether-reported MoS₂-based CdS composites. Notably, these findings with ample prospective for the development of enormously real photocatalytic systems are due to their economically viable and extraordinary efficiency.