One-step synthesis of P-doped MoS2 for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

MoS2 is widely used in photocatalytic hydrogen production owing to its unique optical and electrical properties. However, the photocatalytic performance of pure MoS2 is usually limited by its narrow light absorption band, poor conductivity, and rapid photogenerated carrier recombination. Heteroatom doping is an effective method to improve the catalytic activity of photocatalysts. In this study, P-doped MoS2 was prepared by the one-step hydrothermal method for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. P-doped MoS2 exhibits wider spectra absorption compared to pure MoS2 because of the narrow bandgap from 1.84 eV to 1.77 eV, which can improve visible-light utilization. P-doped MoS2 also shows faster carrier transfer compared to pure MoS2 owing to its low resistance. As a result, P-doped MoS2 shows enhanced photocatalytic performance with a hydrogen production rate about 278.8 μmol/h/g, which is 2.8 times higher than that of pure MoS2 (99.4 μmol/h/g). The findings of this work will serve as a platform for the development of efficient photocatalysts.