Metal

Catalysis

Composite number

Engineering

Metallurgy

Materials science

Nuclear physics

Water splitting

Biochemistry

Computer science

Chemical engineering

Ternary operation

Visible spectrum

Physics

Nanotechnology

Irradiation

Hydrothermal circulation

Noble metal

Composite material

Chemistry

Programming language

Photocatalysis

Hydrogen production

Optoelectronics

Applied Surface Science

Water splitting under visible light irradiation over earth-abundant, inexpensive and high active catalysts is an effective and direct way to obtain renewable H2 energy. Here, a kind of novel noble-metal-free composite photocatalyst with high hydrogen evolution performance was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. In the composite, MXene slice with excellent conductivity was used to promote the activity of CdS-MoS2 catalyst. A prominent H2 generation rate of 9679 μmol⋅g−1⋅h−1 for the ternary composite was obtained under the irradiation of visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm). It exhibited a great enhancement by a factor of 251.3% in comparison with CdS-MoS2. The exceptional performance of CdS-MoS2-MXene was mainly arised from the high carrier mobility of MXene, which facilitates the separation of photoinduced electron-hole pairs. The present findings would provide a new direction towards exploring MXene-based composite photocatalysts with high photocatalytic performance in water splitting.

Synergetic effect of MoS2 and MXene on the enhanced H2 evolution performance of CdS under visible light irradiation