Au–Cu nanoalloy/TiO2/MoS2 ternary hybrid with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production

TiO2 is widely accepted as a promising photocatalyst for hydrogen generation due to its low cost, environmental friendliness and good photocatalytic property and stability. However, its spread application is largely hindered by the limited light adsorption efficiency and rapid recombination of photo-generated electrons and holes. In order to solve these issues, hybridization of TiO2 with other narrow bandgap semiconductors and introduction of conductive metal species are considered as two effective approaches. In this work, we synthesized a Au–Cu nanoalloy/TiO2/MoS2 ternary hybrid to achieve much enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen generation activity than the individual counterparts of TiO2 and TiO2/MoS2 by bridging Au–Cu nanoalloy with TiO2/MoS2 nanosheets. A variety of material characterization and photocatalytic analysis reveal that the enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen generation activity of the TiO2/MoS2/Au–Cu hybrid is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect between Au–Cu nanoalloy and TiO2/MoS2 nanosheets. The rational combination of the ternary hybrid improves the sunlight utilization efficiency and facilitates the separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. This work provides a good example for the design and development of advanced TiO2-based photocatalysts.