Boosting solar driven hydrogen evolution rate of CdS nanorods adorned with MoS2 and SnS2 nanostructures

Abstract

Hierarchical 1-D CdS nanorods adorned with MoS2-SnS2 nanocomposites were developed by a simple solvothermal method at nano-regime. In the present work, we noticed a tremendous enhancement in H2 evolution by loading MoS2-SnS2 nanostructures on 1D-CdS nanorods under the solar light irradiation. Notably, for the CdS/MoS2-SnS2 (6 wt%) nanocomposites, the hydrogen production rate reached to 185.36 mmol. h−1. g−1., this is much higher than that of pristine CdS (2.5 mmol. h−1. g−1) and 6 wt% of MoS2 loaded CdS nanorods (123 mmol. h−1. g−1). The efficient photocatalytic performance in MoS2-SnS2 loaded CdS nanorods could be due to high light harvesting capability, bifurcation of electron-hole pairs, trapping sites, active catalytic zones, migration of charge carriers towards the surface of a semiconductor, and suitable energy levels. We strongly believe that the current design plan on the synthesis of MoS2-SnS2 loaded CdS nanorods and its efficiency for catalytic performance towards hydrogen evolution is an inherent alternative route for sustainable energy production.