One-pot synthesis of transition-metal-sulfides decorated CdS by low-temperature KSCN flux: An effective route to strengthen the interface for enhanced photocatalytic H evolution.

The performance of decorated photocatalysts is highly dependent on the interfacial contact between the cocatalyst and the substrate photocatalyst, which is essentially determined by their fabrication routes. Herein, a simple one-pot preparation method based on low-temperature KSCN flux was developed for the synthesis of sulfide photocatalysts with MS/CdS (MS = CoS, NiS, CuS, SnS, MoS, and WS) as prototypes. The results indicate that a sulfidation of Cd and the cocatalyst precursors can be achieved successively in the reaction system, which facilitates the formation of a welded interface as the cocatalysts can grow epitaxially on the formed CdS surface.