MnS coupled with ultrathin MoS^sub 2^ nanolayers as heterojunction photocatalyst for high photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical activities

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds Vol. 771; p. 364
• Main Authors: Chen, Xuan, Zhang, Jun, Zeng, Jinghui, Shi, Yuxuan, Lin, Songyun, Huang, Guozhou, Wang, Hongbo, Kong, Zhe, Xi, Junhua, Ji, Zhenguo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier BV 15.01.2019
• Subjects: Catalytic activity; Conduction bands; Electrons; Heterojunctions; Image resolution; Luminous intensity; Molybdenum disulfide; Nanoparticles; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Photoelectric effect; Photoelectric emission; Semiconductors; Thin films; Valence band
• ISSN: 0925-8388

Nano-MnS were coupled with ultrathin two-dimensional MoS2 nanolayers as heterojunction photocatalysts. The well heterojunction contact can be confirmed by high resolution TEM images. The heterojunction composites display higher absorption intensity of visible light and the S XPS peaks show obvious shift. Compared with pristine MnS, this MnS/MoS2 heterojunction exhibited vast enhancement in photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical performance. The heterojunction composite with highest activity displayed 161% enhancement in photocatalytic activity, 2.6–11.5 times increase of photocurrent density. This vast improvement can be assigned to the energy band matching of MnS/MoS2 heterojunction. Both the conduction band and valence band of MnS are more negative than those of MoS2, the photo-induced electrons at the conduction band of MnS will transfer into the conduction band of MoS2 while the photo-induced holes at the valence band of MoS2 will transfer into the valence band of MnS. In this way, the photo-produced carriers will flow into different semiconductors and the carriers' separation efficiency is enhanced. The work develops a new approach to improve the heterojunction property for photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical application.