Sulfur Vacancy-Rich O-Doped 1T-MoS₂ Nanosheets for Exceptional Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation over CdS

Abstract

Here, we reported that sulfur vacancy-rich O-doped 1T-MoS₂ nanosheets (denoted as SV-1T-MoS₂) can surpass the activity of Pt as cocatalysts to assist in the photocatalytic nitrogen fixation of CdS nanorods. SV-1T-MoS₂ cocatalysts exhibit sulfur vacancies, O-doping, more metallic 1T phase, and high electronic conductivity, thus leading to the exposure of more active edge sites, high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, enhanced visible light absorption, and improved electron separation and transfer, which are beneficial for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation. Consequently, the optimized 30 wt % SV-1T-MoS₂-/CdS composites exhibit an outstanding nitrogen fixation rate of 8220.83 μmol L^-1 h^-1 g^-1 and long-term stability under simulated solar light irradiation, significantly higher than pure CdS nanorods, CdS-Pt (0.1 wt %), and 30 wt % 1T-MoS₂/CdS composites. The catalytic mechanism of photocatalytic nitrogen fixation on SV-1T-MoS₂ is discussed by density functional theory calculations.