CAS Researchers Improve Photocatalyst Performance for H2 Production

14 June 2008

Researchers at China’s Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences) have developed a catalyst for solar photocatalytic hydrogen production that shows enhanced performance. A report on the work led by Prof. Li Can is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

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In the research, Prof. Li’s group loaded a small amount of MoS₂ as a co-catalyst on CdS. The MoS₂/CdS catalysts showed a high rate of H₂ evolution from the photocatalytic re-forming of lactic acid under visible light irradiation. The rate of H₂ evolution on CdS was increased by up to 36 times when loaded with only 0.2 wt % of MoS₂.

The activity of MoS₂/CdS is even higher than that of the CdS photocatalysts loaded with different noble metals, such as Pt, Ru, Rh, Pd, and Au.

The researchers suggest that the junction formed between MoS₂ and CdS and the strong H₂ activation property of MoS₂ are responsible for the enhanced photocatalytic activity of MoS₂/CdS.

Resources

• Xu Zong,  Hongjian Yan,  Guopeng Wu,  Guijun Ma,  Fuyu Wen,  Lu Wang,  and   Can Li (2008) Enhancement of Photocatalytic H₂ Evolution on CdS by Loading MoS₂ as Cocatalyst under Visible Light Irradiation, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 130 (23), 7176–7177, 2008. doi: 10.1021/ja8007825

• Basic Research Needs for the Hydrogen Economy (DOE BES)