Construction strategy of Mo-S@Mo-P heterojunction formed with in-situ phosphating Mo-S nanospheres toward efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

Abstract

The reduction potential of the composite catalyst is increased, thereby enhancing the reduction ability and is more favorable for the hydrogen evolution activity. Partial phosphating to the the surface of nano-flowers has formed a Mo-S@Mo-P heterojunction, which can effectively improve the photo-generated charge separation efficiency and significantly reduce the recombination of carriers, prolong the photo-generated charges’ life, and thus improve the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. • A unique Mo-S@Mo-P heterojunction was constructed based on in situ phosphating. • Mo-S@Mo-P hybrid photocatalyst is developed for the first time for hydrogen generation from water splitting. • The surface phosphating strategy established a fast electron transport pathway. • The composites exhibited excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production. The Mo-S@Mo-P heterojunction was successfully constructed on the surface of Mo-S nanospheres by simple phosphating. The introduction of phosphorus created a special electron transfer pathway on the surface of catalyst. Mo-S-P nanoflowers were a unique and unusually hetrojunction photocatalyst constituted of mixed anions. The synergistic effect between sulfur and phosphorus produced a photocatalyst that was more active than those based on pure sulfide or pure phosphide. The Mo-S-P-15 composite photocatalyst sensitized by Eosin Y had a hydrogen evolution amount of 551.8 μmol in 5 h under visible light irradiation (11036.1 μmol h −1 g −1 ). A series of tests had shown that the application of this partial phosphating strategy, on the one hand, increased the reduction potential of the composite catalyst, thereby enhancing the reduction ability of the composite catalyst. On the other hand, it formed a Mo-S@Mo-P heterojunction after partial phosphating, which could effectively improve the separation efficiency of photo-generated charges, prolong the life of photo-generated charges, and improve the performance of photocatalytic hydrogen production. These findings provide new insights into the construction of highly oriented heterojunctions for anisotropic semiconductors and provide new strategies for adjusting the surface structure and carrier behavior of photocatalyst.