MoS2/HCSs/ZnIn2S4 nanocomposites with enhanced charge transport and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance

Severe recombination of photogenerated carriers is one of bottlenecks for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Cocatalyst loading has undoubtedly been becoming one of effective methods to solve above-mentioned problem. In this work, two effective cocatalysts, hollow carbon spheres (HCSs) and MoS2, were successfully loaded on ZnIn2S4 nanosheets to form ternary MoS2/HCSs/ZnIn2S4 nanocomposites. Moreover, a strong interaction between HCSs, MoS2 and ZnIn2S4 was confirmed by a series of advanced tools. The ternary nanocomposites exhibited superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. The highest hydrogen evolution rate of 620.9 μmol g−1 h−1 was achieved, approximately 5.4 times higher than that of pure ZnIn2S4. Such improvement could be attributed to more visible-light absorption, faster carrier transfer and lower electron/hole recombination. This work may provide a favorable envisage for the application of co-catalysts in the field of hydrogen production.