Facile hydrothermally synthesis of hexagon tin disulfide nanosheets for high-performance photocatalytic hydrogen generation

Abstract

Tin disulfide (SnS₂) has been attracted intensive attention in the field of photoelectric conversion due to its appropriate band gap and glorious electronic mobility. The hexagon SnS₂ nanosheets has been successfully integrated through a facile one-pot hydrothermal method. SEM images, Raman spectra, atomic force microscope and X-ray diffraction patterns are measured to carry out to investigate the morphologies and microstructures of SnS₂ nanosheetsm, confirming a good crystallized SnS₂. Then, the photochemical activity of as-prepared SnS₂ nanosheets were tested in the electrolyte of Na₂SO₄. Photoelectrochemical tests demonstrate that the photocurrent density of as-prepared hexagon SnS₂ nanosheets (1.66 µA/cm² at a light intensity of 140 mW/cm²) is hugely increased with increasing light intensity. Furthermore, after 50 cycles, the photocurrent density does not change significantly, indicating that the as-prepared SnS₂ nanosheets possesses superior stabilities. The outstanding photocatalytic performances of SnS₂ nanosheets are not only resulted from its huge specific surface area, which can harvest more light and provide more active sites, but also attributed to its superior charge mobility, which can facilitate the separation photogenerated electron–hole pairs and the charge transfer between SnS₂ nanosheets and the electrode. The most important is that our work reveals the hexagonal SnS₂ nanosheets not only possess superior photoelectrochemical properties, but also have great potential applications in energy conversion and photodetector fields.