Preparation and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of square platform Cu2MoS4/lamellar ZnIn2S4

Transition metal sulfides are widely used in visible photocatalysis due to their suitable forbidden band widths. In this work, square platform Cu2MoS4/lamellar ZnIn2S4 composites were successfully prepared by solvent thermal and self-assembly methods. The crystalline shape, microstructure and optoelectronic properties of the composites were explored by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance experiments. The results show that the absorption of the composite material in the visible region is significantly enhanced compared with that of the pure sample, and the specific surface area reaches 58.39 m(2) g(-1), which is about 3 times that of pure Cu2MoS4, providing more reaction adsorption sites. Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution experiments show that the best performance was achieved when Cu2MoS4 : ZnIn2S4 = 4 : 6. Namely, the composite CMS/ZIS-2 exhibited the highest hydrogen evolution performance of 3104.25 mu mol h(-1) g(-1), which was about 434 and 13 times higher than the pure Cu2MoS4 and ZnIn2S4 photocatalytic performance, respectively. The improved performance is mainly attributed to the loading of lamellar ZnIn2S4 on the surface of Cu2MoS4, which organically combine to form a heterojunction, enhancing the light absorption in the visible region and suppressing the complexation of photogenerated carriers, thus improving the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution efficiency.