Enhanced photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen production performance of porous MoS2/PPy/ZnO film under visible light irradiation

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting provides a “green” approach for hydrogen production. However, the design and fabrication of high-efficient catalysts are the bottleneck for PEC water splitting owing to the involved thermodynamic and kinetic challenges. Herein, we report a new strategy for constructing a porous MoS2/PPy/ZnO thin film photocatalyst with large specific surface area and excellent conductivity to achieve photoelectrochemical water splitting under visible light irradiation. Porous PPy/ZnO was synthesized via template-assisted electrodeposition, and MoS2 was further electrodeposited to construct porous MoS2/PPy/ZnO thin film photocatalyst. The hydrogen evolution rate of MoS2/PPy/ZnO exhibits about 3.5-fold increase to 40.22 μmol cm−2 h−1 under visible light irradiation. The enhancement for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production is not only ascribed to enlarged specific surface area of the porous structure, but also attributed to the synergistic effects of MoS2 and porous PPy/ZnO, which could dramatically improve its visible light absorption capacity and enhance the separation and transfer of photogenerated charges. Thus, more abundant photogenerated electrons and holes participate in photoelectrochemical process, which significantly enhances its photoelectrochemical hydrogen production performance.