Synergistic effect of rare earth metal Sm oxides and Co1-xS on sheet structure MoS2 for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

The novel composite Sm2O3@Co1-xS/MoS2 was synthesized by an efficient and easy operation solvothermal process. As a new photocatalyst, it has high photocatalytic activity. The hydrogen evolution amount of the Sm2O3@Co1-xS/MoS2 catalyst is as high as 448 μmol under visible light irradiation for 5 h, which is about 4 times higher than MoS2 and still exhibited high photocatalytic stability. The AQEs reached 32.1% at 475 nm. The synergistic effect of rare earth metal Sm oxides and Co1-xS over MoS2 sheet for photocatalytic activity and stability were analysed by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, UV-vis, and fluorescence spectra etc. The results showed that the deposited Sm2O3@Co1-xS are uniformly dispersed on the MoS2 sheet, the electron transfer and the charge separation were obviously improved with the aid of Sm2O3 and Co1-xS on the surface of MoS2. The BET results showed that Sm2O3@Co1-xS/MoS2 had a greater specific surface area and pore volume, which was beneficial to the adsorption of dye molecules and enhanced the photocatalytic activity. Therefore, rare earth metal Sm oxides might be a potential cocatalyst for the design of a new photocatalyst.