Enhanced photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic activities of CdS nanowires by surface modification with MoS2 nanosheets

Nanocomposites composed of one-dimensional (1D) CdS nanowires (NWs) and 1T-MoS2 nanosheets have been fabricated through a two-step solvothermal process. 5 mol% of MoS2 loading results in the best optical properties, photoelectrochemical (PEC) as well as photocatalytic activities for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Compared with pure CdS NWs, the optimized nanocomposite shows 5.5 times enhancement in photocurrent and 86.3 times increase for HER in the presence of glucose and lactic acid as hole scavengers. The enhanced PEC and HER activities are attributed to the intimate contact between MoS2 and CdS that efficiently enhances charge carrier separation. In addition, ultrafast transient absorption (TA) measurements have been used to probe the charge carrier dynamics and gain deeper insight into the mechanism behind the enhanced PEC and photocatalytic performance.