Bimetals Ni-Mo-S-Modified Hollow Cubic Cu_2-xS for Visible-Light Photocatalytic H₂ Evolution

Photocatalysts with hollow structures have drawn great interest owing to their high specific surface area, which can enhance the photocatalytic performance. Herein, we designed the hollow cubic Cu2-xS@Ni-Mo-S nanocomposites by vulcanizing from the Cu2O template and loading the Ni-Mo-S lamellas. The Cu2-xS@Ni-Mo-S composites greatly improved the photocatalytic hydrogen performance. Among them, Cu2-xS-NiMo-5 achieved the optimal photocatalytic rate of 1326.07 mu mol/g h, which is approximately 3.85 times higher than that of hollow Cu2-xS (344 mu mol/g h) and had good stability for 16 h. The enhanced photocatalytic property was attributed to the metallic behavior of bimetallic Ni-Mo-S lamellas and the LSPR (localized surface plasmon resonance) effect of Cu2-xS. The bimetallic Ni-Mo- S can effectively capture the photogenerated electrons and quickly transfer-diffuse to produce H2. Meanwhile, the hollow Cu2-xS not only provided many more active sites to take part in the reaction but also introduced the LSPR effect to increase the solar utilization. This work provides valuable insights into the synergistic effect of using non-precious metal co-catalysts and the LSPR materials to assist in the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.