Chemical vapor deposition of amorphous molybdenum sulphide on black phosphorus for photoelectrochemical water splitting

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2020.07.010

Abstract

Abstract:

Non-precious metal electrocatalyst molybdenum sulphide (MoS) and black phosphorus (BP) are highly promising catalysts for H₂ evolution reaction (HER). However, BP is environmentally unstable and the basal planes of crystal MoS₂ are inactive toward HER. Herein, amorphous molybdenum sulphide (MoS_x) directly on BP/BiVO₄ film dramatically improves the performance of photoelectrochemical water splitting compared with pure BiVO₄. Additionally, we demonstrate that a BP layer, inserted between the MoS_x and BiVO₄, can enhance the photoelectrochemical performance and improve the stability of the electrodes. Finally, MoS_x/BP/BVO electrode shows the excellent current density of 2.1 mA/cm² at the potential of 1.2 V (vs Ag/AgCl), which is twice higher than that of pure BVO electrode. Our novel nanostructure materials will lead to a new class of non-precious metal photocatalysts for hydrogen production.

Key words: Amorphous, Molybdenum sulphide, Black phosphorus, Photoanode, Water splitting

Yuanmei Xu, Xiaoqin Zhang, Zhihong Chen, Krzysztof Kempa, Xin Wang, Lingling Shui. Chemical vapor deposition of amorphous molybdenum sulphide on black phosphorus for photoelectrochemical water splitting[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2021, 68: 1-7.

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1. (a) Synthetic steps (upper panel) and apparatus (bottom panel) of MoSx/BP/BVO. (b) Solar driven water splitting process.

Fig. 2. SEM images of BiOI ((a): top view, (b): side view). SEM images of various films: BVO (c), BP/BVO (d), MoSx/BVO (e), and MoSx/BP/BVO (f).

Fig. 3. TEM image of MoSx/BP/BVO (a), HAADF image and elemental mapping of MoSx/BP/BVO (b), HRTEM image of MoSx/BP/BVO (c, d), HRTEM image of BP (e), and EDS spectra of MoSx/BP/BVO (f).

Fig. 4. XRD patterns of BVO, BP/BVO, MoSx/BVO and MoSx/BP/BVO electrodes (a); XPS spectra of BP and MoSx: (b) P 2p, (c) Mo 3d and (d) S 2p region.

Fig. 5. (a) Jsc-V curves of BVO, BP/BVO, MoSx/BVO and MoSx/BP/BVO electrodes; (b) J-V curves of transient response; (c) Amperometric J-t curves of BVO, BP/BVO, MoSx/BVO and MoSx/BP/BVO electrodes at an applied potential of 1.23 V vs RHE, respectively; (d) Jsc-V curves of BP/BVO electrodes with different amount of BP; (e) Jsc-V curves of MoSx/BP/BVO electrodes deposited with different growth times of MoSx; (f) Photocurrent of BVO and MoSx/BP/BVO electrodes during the 4 h measurement; (g) Photocurrent of MoSx/BP/BVO electrodes before and after 4 h measurement; (h) Nyquist plots and (i) Bode phase plots of BVO, BP/BVO, MoSx/BVO and MoSx/BP/BVO electrodes in the light.

Fig. 6. UV-vis absorption spectra (a), corresponding Tauc plot of BVO, BP/BVO, MoSx/BVO and MoSx/BP/BVO electrodes (b). Mott-Schottky plots of BVO, BP and bare FTO electrodes (c). Schematic of charge separation and transfer in MoSx/BP/BVO electrodes (d).

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