The unsaturated S atoms on the exposed edges of MoS2 are demonstrated to be the critical H2-generation active sites, and the strategy to fabricate MoSx cocatalyst with a small size...

Introducing W into MoS2 to fabricate Mo x W1−x S2 is a promising strategy to optimize the active‐site density and electrical conductivity of MoS2 to further improve its H2‐evolution efficiency. However, limited attention has been paid to developing facile and effective methods to prepare a Mo x W1−x S2 H2‐evolution cocatalyst, especially the few‐layered Mo x W1−x S2, to boost the photocatalytic H2‐evolution activity of host photocatalyst materials. Herein, a well‐designed Mo x W1−x S2 cocatalyst with a few‐layered structure of 5–7 layers and an interlayer spacing of 0.65 nm is in‐situ grown on the CdS surface via a simple one‐step solvothermal method with (NH4)2MoS4 and (NH4)2WS4 as the dual‐functional precursors. In this case, the above dual‐functional precursors can not only transform into the few‐layered Mo x W1−x S2 cocatalyst but also provide abundant S2− ions for the formation of the CdS host photocatalyst. The photocatalytic H2‐evolution results declare that the Mo0.5W0.5S2/CdS photocatalyst acquires the highest H2‐evolution rate of 2968.1 μmol h−1 g−1, which is higher than that of MoS2/CdS by a factor of 3.5. The remarkably promoted H2‐evolution activity of the few‐layered Mo x W1−x S2/CdS is mainly ascribed to the speedy electron transport and efficient H2‐evolution reaction via the Mo x W1−x S2 cocatalyst on CdS surface by W‐introduction.

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