A recent progress and advancement on MoS2-based photocatalysts for efficient solar fuel (hydrogen) generation via photocatalytic water splitting

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a non-noble metal and one of the families of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), has attracted so much attention in recent years due to its promising photocatalytic properties such as a narrow bandgap, abundant active sites, and suitable Gibb's free energy of hydrogen (H-2) adsorption (similar to -0.08 eV) compared to that of platinum (Pt) with -0.03 eV. Thus, it is expected that the material could be a better substitute for the use of expensive noble metals for H-2 generation via photocatalytic water splitting. Despite the advantages mentioned, the activity of a single MoS2 in a photocatalytic system is still deficient due to confinement of the active sites to the edges, electron/hole pair recombination, and (in the case of bulk materials) a non-suitable bandgap and poor conductivity. As such, metal and non-metal doping, forming different types of heterojunctions, varying the loading, and the type of sacrificial agent, and utilizing a new approach of tandem catalysis for H-2 generation using MoS2 are discussed. This review also summarizes the later and recent progress, as well as providing future prospects for further investigation toward improving the activity of MoS2-based photocatalysts.