NiPS(3) ultrathin nanosheets as versatile platform advancing highly active photocatalytic H(2) production

High-performance and low-cost photocatalysts play the key role in achieving the large-scale solar hydrogen production. In this work, we report a liquid-exfoliation approach to prepare NiPS(3) ultrathin nanosheets as a versatile platform to greatly improve the light-induced hydrogen production on various photocatalysts, including TiO(2), CdS, In(2)ZnS(4) and C(3)N(4). The superb visible-light-induced hydrogen production rate (13,600 μmol h(−1) g(−1)) is achieved on NiPS(3)/CdS hetero-junction with the highest improvement factor (~1,667%) compared with that of pure CdS. This significantly better performance is attributed to the strongly correlated NiPS(3)/CdS interface assuring efficient electron-hole dissociation/transport, as well as abundant atomic-level edge P/S sites and activated basal S sites on NiPS(3) ultrathin nanosheets advancing hydrogen evolution. These findings are revealed by the state-of-art characterizations and theoretical computations. Our work for the first time demonstrates the great potential of metal phosphorous chalcogenide as a general platform to tremendously raise the performance of different photocatalysts.