Sulfur Vacancy-Rich O-Doped 1T-MoS2 Nanosheets for Exceptional Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation over CdS

Here, we reported that sulfur vacancy-rich O-doped 1T-MoS2 nanosheets (denoted as SV-1T-MoS2) can surpass the activity of Pt as cocatalysts to assist in the photocatalytic nitrogen fixation of CdS nanorods. SV-1T-MoS2 cocatalysts exhibit sulfur vacancies, O-doping, more metallic 1T phase, and high electronic conductivity, thus leading to the exposure of more active edge sites, high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, enhanced visible light absorption, and improved electron separation and transfer, which are beneficial for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation. Consequently, the optimized 30 wt % SV-1T-MoS2-/CdS composites exhibit an outstanding nitrogen fixation rate of 8220.83 mu mol L-1 h(-1) g(-1) and long-term stability under simulated solar light irradiation, significantly higher than pure CdS nanorods, CdS-Pt (0.1 wt %), and 30 wt % 1T-MoS2/CdS composites. The catalytic mechanism of photocatalytic nitrogen fixation on SV-1T-MoS2 is discussed by density functional theory calculations.