Trinary Nanohybrid Nanocomposite (Ag/MoS2/ZnO): A Plausible Photoelectrode for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Current study aims to synthesis trinary nanohybrid composite (Ag/MoS2/ZnO) and evaluate its potential application as photoanode to produce hydrogen gas with low voltage (0.2 V vs. RHE). Combination of structural analysis via microscopy analysis and elemental spectroscopy has proven the successful in integrating Ag/MoS2 dispersion phase onto ZnO nanorods matrix. Optical characterization on the as-prepared Ag/MoS2/ZnO indicates there is an improvement of light absorption towards visible light region, which is benefiting the photoelectrochemical process by creating additional photoexciton. Photoelectrochemical performance analysis reveals that the performance of trinary nanohybrid composites exhibits better water splitting efficiency as compared to its single component counterpart (ZnO). Among all the samples, 20 wt% Ag/MoS2 depicts the best photoelectrochemical performance with the low onset potential (0.3V vs. RHE) and photoconversion efficiency of 1.15% at peak voltage of 0.85 V (vs. RHE). Without any external supplied voltage, chronoamperometry measurement indicate there is a short circuit current of 0.70 mA/cm2 and similar bias-free condition has found to be able in sustaining self-driven hydrogen gas generation up to 54.49 μL according to gas chromatography-analysis. The enhancement of photoelectrochemical performance has been discussed and accredited to the presence of active edges in MoS2 nanoflakes in addition to Ag nanoparticles that facilitate the efficient charge separation process. Current work is envisaged to serve as a platform for exploring the potential in using multi-compounds integration approach for realizing bias-free water splitting application.