A recent progress and advancement on MoS2-based photocatalysts for efficient solar fuel (hydrogen) generation via photocatalytic water splitting

Abstract

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a non-noble metal and one of the families of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), has attracted so much attention in recent years due to its promising photocatalytic properties such as a narrow bandgap, abundant active sites, and suitable Gibb's free energy of hydrogen (H2) adsorption (∼ −0.08 eV) compared to that of platinum (Pt) with −0.03 eV. Thus, it is expected that the material could be a better substitute for the use of expensive noble metals for H2 generation via photocatalytic water splitting. Despite the advantages mentioned, the activity of a single MoS2 in a photocatalytic system is still deficient due to confinement of the active sites to the edges, electron/hole pair recombination, and (in the case of bulk materials) a non-suitable bandgap and poor conductivity. As such, metal and non-metal doping, forming different types of heterojunctions, varying the loading, and the type of sacrificial agent, and utilizing a new approach of tandem catalysis for H2 generation using MoS2 are discussed. This review also summarizes the later and recent progress, as well as providing future prospects for further investigation toward improving the activity of MoS2-based photocatalysts.