Visible-light-induced generation of H2 by nanocomposites of few-layer TiS2 and TaS2 with CdS nanoparticles

Uttam Gupta; Bolla Govinda Rao; Urmimala Maitra; B E Prasad; C N R Rao

doi:10.1002/asia.201301537

Visible-light-induced generation of H2 by nanocomposites of few-layer TiS2 and TaS2 with CdS nanoparticles

Chem Asian J. 2014 May;9(5):1311-5. doi: 10.1002/asia.201301537. Epub 2014 Mar 18.

Authors

Uttam Gupta¹, Bolla Govinda Rao, Urmimala Maitra, B E Prasad, C N R Rao

Affiliation

¹ Chemistry and Physics Materials Unit, New Chemistry Unit and International Centre for Materials Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore 560064 (India), Fax: (+91) 80-22082760, Webpage: http://www.jncasr.ac.in/cnrrao.

PMID: 24644007
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201301537

Abstract

Graphene analogues of TaS2 and TiS2 (3-4 layers), prepared by Li intercalation followed by exfoliation in water, were characterized. Nanocomposites of CdS with few-layer TiS2 and TaS2 were employed for the visible-light-induced H2 evolution reaction (HER). Benzyl alcohol was used as the sacrificial electron donor, which was oxidized to benzaldehyde during the reaction. Few-layer TiS2 is a semiconductor with a band gap of 0.7 eV, and its nanocomposite with CdS showed an activity of 1000 μmol h(-1) g(-1). The nanocomposite of few-layer TaS2, in contrast, gave rise to higher activity of 2320 μmol h(-1) g(-1), which was attributed to the metallic nature of few-layer TaS2. The amount of hydrogen evolved after 20 and 16 h for the CdS/TiS2 and CdS/TaS2 nanocomposites was 14,833 and 28,132 μmol, respectively, with turnover frequencies of 0.24 and 0.57 h(-1), respectively.

Keywords: graphene; layered chalcogenides; photocatalysis; turnover frequency; water splitting.