In-situ growth of high-content 1T phase MoS₂ confined in the CuS nanoframe for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

The large-scale synthesis of the metallic phase MoS₂ (1 T MoS₂) is important for enhancing the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, it's difficult to obtain a high-quality of 1 T MoS₂, especially when integrated with other semiconductors for hetero nanomaterials. Herein, a one-step confined template method is proposed to obtain high-quality 1 T MoS₂ in the CuS nanoframe (CuS–MoS₂–1 T). During the synthesis, a unique porous Cu–Mo-based metal–organic framework (MOF), i.e., NENU-5 template has been adopted and in situ sulfurized, where 1 T MoS₂ and CuS have been simultaneously obtained. Interestingly, we find that the confined pores of the CuS nanoframe inhibits the bulk growth of MoS₂ to produce high-stability and large-scale 1 T MoS₂ (a high concentration of ∼70 %). The obtained nanomaterial exhibits remarkable photocatalytic activity with the hydrogen production rate of approximately 9648.7 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹, which is much higher than other various newly developed photocatalysts reported early. This study develops a new strategy via MOF confined template for high-quality 1 T MoS₂ production and achieves outstanding performance in the photocatalytic water splitting. This approach may also shed light on other similar confined templates for the praparation of high-quality metastable nanomaterials.