The transition to clean and renewable energy sources is of prime importance in addressing environmental challenges related to the consumption of fossil fuels. Hydrogen, being a clean fuel with a high energy density, has huge potential, especially when it can be obtained through solar-driven PEC water splitting. Herein, MoS2 photocatalysts were synthesized by sulfurizing MoO3 thin films, using a CVD technique. The deposited MoO3 films by thermal evaporation at 450 °C were further sulfurized at 500 °C, 550 °C, and 600 °C. XRD results confirmed the successful conversion of MoO3 into MoS2. The optical properties showed a bandgap reduction from 2.50 eV to 1.30 eV, which leads to better absorption of light in the visible region.The photoelectrochemical experiment shows that the S-MoO3-600 °C thin film has the best performance, and the solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency reaches 0.11385% at an applied bias of 1.0 V versus Ag/AgCl, which is about 189 times higher than that of the pristine MoO3 thin film.
Zulfiqar et al. (Wed,) studied this question.