Chemically exfoliated metallic MoS2 nanosheets： A promising supporting co-catalyst for enhancing the photocatalytic performance of TiO2 nanocrystals

Electron-hole separation is a critical step to achieving efficient photocatalysis, towards which use of co-catalysts has become a widely used strategy. Despite the tremendous efforts and demonstrated functions of noble metal co-catalysts, seeking noble metal-free co-catalysts will always be the goal when designing cost- effective, high-performance hybrid photocatalysts. In this work, we demonstrate that MoS~ nanosheets with 1T phase （i.e., octahedral phase） can function as a co-catalyst with multiple merits： （1） Noble-metal-free; （2） high mobility for charge transport; （3） high density of active sites for H2 evolution on basal planes; （4） good performance stability; （5） high light transparency. As demonstrated in both photocatalytic hydrogen production and Rhodamine B degradation, the developed hybrid structure with TiO2 exhibits excellent performance, in sharp contrast to bare TiO2 and the hybrid counterpart with 2H-MoS2.