Cu₂O decorated with cocatalyst MoS₂ for solar hydrogen production with enhanced efficiency under visible light

In this work, we have prepared a p-type semiconductor of Cu₂O decorated with MoS₂ nanosheets as cocatalyst for efficient solar hydrogen production under visible light. Results show that Cu₂O decorated with 1.0 wt % MoS₂ presents the maximum reduction photocurrent density of 0.17 mA cm^-2, which is 7-fold higher than pristine Cu₂O. Furthermore, the as-prepared MoS₂@Cu ₂O exhibits remarkable photostability with only 7% loss of its original photocurrent after 9 h of continuous work. The excellent performance of MoS₂@Cu₂O is ascribed to the introduction of active sites of MoS₂ nanosheets as cocatalyst to the surface of Cu₂O nanoparticles, which activates the photocatalyst by lowering the electrochemical proton reduction overpotential and also inhibits photoinduced corrosion during the measurement.