Construction of network-like and flower-like 2H-MoSe2 nanostructures coupled with porous g-C3N4 for noble-metal-free photocatalytic H2 evolution under visible light

By Deqian Zeng, Pengyuan Wu, Wee‐Jun Ong, Baoshan Tang, Mingda Wu, Hongfei Zheng, Yuanzhi Chen, D. Peng. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2018

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Abstract Colloidally synthesized flower-like and network-like MoSe2 nanostructures are coupled with porous g-C3N4 nanosheets through a facile solution-phase route. Herein, two distinct morphological structures of MoSe2/g-C3N4 hybrid nanocomposites are applied as noble-metal-free photocatalysts for hydrogen (H2) evolution. In the resulting optimally-designed hybrid systems, the optimal flower-like and network-like MoSe2 nanostructures loading is determined to be 5 wt%, attaining a maximum H2 evolution rate of 114.5 μmol h−1 g−1 and 136.8 μmol h−1 g−1, respectively. In comparison with flower-like MoSe2 cocatalysts, the network-like MoSe2 hybridized with g-C3N4 endows excellent photocatalytic H2 evolution activity. This phenomenon stems from the intimate formation of unique sheet-on-sheet nanoarchitecture, which is auspicious for the absorption of light and high-efficiency separation of photoexcited electron-hole pairs to hamper the charge recombination. The present studies elucidate the prevailing role of MoSe2 nanostructures as active catalytic sites for H2 evolution, and importantly, the hybrid systems exhibit high photocatalytic stability. Collectively, the work opens up new insights for the utilization of low-cost MoSe2 nanomaterials as remarkable noble-metal-free cocatalysts for effective photocatalytic H2 generation.

Subfields: Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4d84995b62ee0a8b231cc17d9612eea7495a987c