One-step synthesis of P-doped MoS₂ for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

MoS₂ is widely used in photocatalytic hydrogen production owing to its unique optical and electrical properties. However, the photocatalytic performance of pure MoS₂ is usually limited by its narrow light absorption band, poor conductivity, and rapid photogenerated carrier recombination. Heteroatom doping is an effective method to improve the catalytic activity of photocatalysts. In this study, P-doped MoS₂ was prepared by the one-step hydrothermal method for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. P-doped MoS₂ exhibits wider spectra absorption compared to pure MoS₂ because of the narrow bandgap from 1.84 eV to 1.77 eV, which can improve visible-light utilization. P-doped MoS₂ also shows faster carrier transfer compared to pure MoS₂ owing to its low resistance. As a result, P-doped MoS₂ shows enhanced photocatalytic performance with a hydrogen production rate about 278.8 μmol/h/g, which is 2.8 times higher than that of pure MoS₂ (99.4 μmol/h/g). The findings of this work will serve as a platform for the development of efficient photocatalysts.