Construction of synergistic active sites on MoS₂ basal plane by interfacing with C₆₀ derivative for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution coupled with biomass alcohol conversion

As a promising alternative to platinum, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is widely utilized as catalyst/co-catalyst in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, its inactive basal plane greatly hampers its catalytic activity. Herein, we propose a function-oriented strategy to enhance the catalytic activity of MoS2 by interfacing with fullerene derivatives, specifically indene-C-60 bisadduct (ICBA). The ICBA-MoS2 hybrid was then employed as an efficient co-catalyst, in conjunction with CdS, to construct a photocatalyst for solar-driven hydrogen production coupled with the selective oxidation of furfural alcohol (FOL) to furfural (FAL). The optimized 5 % ICBA-MoS2/CdS (5 %-IMC) sample exhibits a remarkable H-2 and FAL production rates of 978 and 1160 mu mol h(-1) g(-1), respectively, which was 2.4 times higher than that of the primitive sample without ICBA modified. This prominent catalytic performance can be attributed to the high activity of synergistic active sites in ICBA-MoS2, as well as the speed transportation and separation of the photogenerated charges from CdS to ICBA-MoS2, as evidenced by both experimental and theoretical investigations.