Hydrothermal Synthesis of Mn3O4/CoS2 as a Promising Photocatalytic Material for Boosting Visible‐Light Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution has received extensive attention for energy conversion and storage of clean energy. Herein, the composite catalyst Mn3O4/CoS2 is successfully prepared by a hydrothermal method. Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution experiments are conducted by adjusting the amount of Mn3O4. The results show that the composite photocatalyst Mn3O4/CoS2 has higher photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance. The hydrogen production of the 50 mg Mn3O4/CoS2 composite catalyst at 5 h is 14.95 times and 1.60 times that of pure Mn3O4 and CoS2, respectively, indicating that the 50 mg Mn3O4/CoS2 composite catalyst has good photocatalytic stability. In addition, the structure, morphology, and composition of the prepared catalysts are characterized by scanning electron microcopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), electrochemical and PL techniques. Compared with Mn3O4 and CoS2, the photocatalytic response of the 50 mg Mn3O4/CoS2 composite catalyst is significantly enhanced, the current density is increased, the fluorescence quenching efficiency is accelerated, and the pore volume and pore size are increased. Therefore, the composite catalyst can accelerate the separation and transfer of photogenerated electrons and holes and improve the photocatalytic efficiency.