Promotion effect of rhenium on MoS2/ReS2@CdS nanostructures for photocatalytic hydrogen production

Photocatalytic hydrogen generation is a promising way for clean energy and efficient photocatalysts are essential. Transition metal disulfides of both ReS2 and MoS2 are explored as cocatalysts for CdS photocatalyst. Ternary MoS2/ReS2@CdS photocatalysts are provided with the superior photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production as 171.9 mmol•g-1•h-1. The dual cocatalysts form the heterojunctions with CdS, which accelerate the transfer of photo-induced carriers and improve photo-responsive and photo-electrochemical properties of MoS2/ReS2@CdS. Promotion effect of rhenium on the photocatalytic activity of MoS2/ReS2@CdS is confirmed and optimized. The introduce of a small amount of rhenium brings the remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic activity. It is attributed to the dual Z-scheme electron transfer pathway in MoS2/ReS2@CdS photocatalyst. The aid of rhenium is an efficient strategy to tune photocatalytic performance for hydrogen production, which would be applicable in other kinds of photocatalysts.