Regulating Lewis Acidic Sites of 1T-2H MoS2 Catalysts for Solar-Driven Photothermal Catalytic H2 Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass

Solar-driven photothermal catalytic H₂ production from lignocellulosic biomass was achieved by using 1T-2H MoS₂ with tunable Lewis acidic sites as catalysts in an alkaline aqueous solution, in which the number of Lewis acidic sites derived from the exposed Mo edges of MoS₂ was successfully regulated by both the formation of an edge-terminated 1T-2H phase structure and tunable layer number. Owing to the abundant Lewis acidic sites for the oxygenolysis of lignocellulosic biomass, the 1T-2H MoS₂ catalyst shows high photothermal catalytic lignocellulosic biomass-to-H₂ transformation performance in polar wood chips, bamboo, rice straw corncobs, and rice hull aqueous solutions, and the highest H₂ generation rate and solar-to-H₂ (STH) efficiency respectively achieves 3661 μmol·h^-1·g^-1 and 0.18% in the polar wood chip system under 300 W Xe lamp illumination. This study provides a sustainable and cost-effective method for the direct transformation of renewable lignocellulosic biomass to H₂ fuel driven by solar energy.