Abstract:A noble-metal free photocatalyst consisting of WS 2 and TiSi 2 being used for hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation, has been successfully prepared by in-situ formation of WS 2 on the surface of TiSi 2 in a thermal reaction. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results demonstrate that WS 2 moiety has been successfully deposited on the surface of TiSi 2 and some kind of chemical bonds, such as Ti-S-W and Si-S-W, might have formed on the interface of the TiSi 2 and WS 2 components. Optical and photoelectrochemical investigations reveal that WS 2 /TiSi 2 composite possesses lower hydrogen evolution potential and enhanced photogenerated charge separation and transfer efficiency. Under 6 h of visible light (λ > 420 nm) irradiation, the total amount of hydrogen evolved from the optimal WS 2 /TiSi 2 catalyst is 596.4 µmol·g −1 , which is around 1.5 times higher than that of pure TiSi 2 under the same reaction conditions. This study shows a paradigm of developing the effective, scalable and inexpensive system for photocatalytic hydrogen generation.