Ball-milling combined calcination synthesis of MoS2/CdS photocatalysts for high photocatalytic H2 evolution activity under visible light irradiation

A simple and effective ball-milling combined calcination method has been developed to prepare MoS2/CdS photocatalysts for visible-light-driven water splitting into H2 for the first time. The photocataysts exhibit very high photocatalytic activities. A H2 evolution rate up to 1315 μmol h−1 has been achieved based on 0.9 mol% MoS2/CdS (PT) photocatalyst (PT is the abbreviation of pretreatment), which is much higher than 488 μmol h−1 for the 0.2 wt% Pt/CdS (PT) photocatalyst. In the meantime, this photocatalyst exhibits good anti-photocorrosion property. The ball-milling procedure makes the starting material, (NH4)2MoS4, disperse uniformly on the surface of CdS nanoparticles. Further calcination treatment leads to complete decomposition of (NH4)2MoS4 to afford MoS2/CdS photocatalysts with intimate contacts between the two components. The pretreatment of CdS also has important positive effect on photocatalytic activity. Similar reactions by attempting different kinds of commercial CdS products have been carried out, indicating this preparation method is universal.