Abstract
An exfoliated MoS2 encapsulated into metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) was fabricated as a promising noble-metal-free photocatalyst for hydrogen production under visible light irradiation. The as-synthesized samples were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface analysis. It is well known that bulk MoS2 is unsuitable for photocatalysis due to its inadequate reduction and oxidation capabilities. However, exfoliated MoS2 exhibits a direct band gap of 2.8 eV due to quantum confinement, which enables it to possess suitable band positions and retain a good visible-light absorption ability. As a result, it is considered to be an encouraging candidate for photocatalytic applications. Encapsulating exfoliated MoS2 into MOF demonstrates an improved visible light absorption ability compared to pure MOF, and the highest hydrogen production rate that the encapsulated exfoliated MoS2 could reach was 68.4 μmol h-1g-1, which was much higher than that of pure MOF. With a suitable band structure and improved light-harvesting ability, exfoliated MoS2@MOF could be a potential photocatalyst for hydrogen production.
Highlights
The increase in demand for clean and renewable energy has motivated new studies for developing novel techniques for hydrogen and oxygen production via water splitting [1,2,3,4,5]
This study focused on developing an exfoliated MoS2 @metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) composite to evaluate its potential for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
The Zn, C, and N elements were well dispersed in the MoS2 @ZIF-8 (MZ) particles, while Mo and S elements were clearly encapsulated in the zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) shell [14]
Summary
The increase in demand for clean and renewable energy has motivated new studies for developing novel techniques for hydrogen and oxygen production via water splitting [1,2,3,4,5]. Previous studies have mostly focused on MOFs for sensing, drug delivery, batteries and selective catalysis Their application as photocatalysts, has not been thoroughly reported, and their photocatalytic ability is limited as MOFs lack the capacity to absorb visible light [15,16]. MoS2 is unsuitable for photocatalytic applications owing to its inadequate reduction and oxidation capabilities, exfoliated MoS2 shows a direct band gap of 1.9~3.9 eV due to quantum confinement This enables MoS2 to possess suitable band positions for absorbing visible-light [17,18,19,20,21], and . Is constructed by Zn(II) and 2-methylimidazole ligands, and possesses a high specific surface area and outstanding thermal and chemical stability [26] It is extensively applied in adsorption, catalysis, and gas separation [23,26], the photocatalytic properties of ZIF-8 have been inadequately studied.
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