Interfacial Charge Transfer Effects of MoS(2)/α-Fe(2)O(3) Nano-Heterojunction and Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution under Visible-Light Irradiation

Researchers have made efforts to develop high-productivity photocatalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen production to reduce the problem of a lack of energy. Bulk semiconductor photocatalysts mainly endure particular limitations, such as low visible light application, a quick recombination rate of electron–hole pairs, and poor photocatalytic efficiency. The major challenge is to improve solar-light-driven heterostructure photocatalysts that are highly active and stable under the photocatalytic system. In this study, the proposed nano-heterojunction exhibits a great capacity for hydrogen production (871.2 μmol g(−1) h(−1)), which is over 8.1-fold and 12.3-fold higher than that of the bare MoS(2) and bare α-Fe(2)O(3) samples, respectively. It is demonstrated that the MoS(2)/α-Fe(2)O(3) heterojunction gives rise to an enhanced visible light response and accelerated photoinduced charge carrier separation. This work provides an improved visible light absorption efficiency and a narrowed energy band gap, and presents a “highway” for electron–hole pairs to promote transfer and inhibit the combination of photoinduced charge carriers for the utilization of nano-heterojunction photocatalysts in the field of hydrogen production.