Few-layered metallic 1T-MoS 2 /TiO 2 with exposed (001) facets: two-dimensional nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic activities.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) with exposed (001) facets (TiO2 (001)) has attractive photocatalytic properties. However, the high recombination rate of the photo-excited charge carriers on this surface often limits its application. Here, we report that a few-layered 1T-MoS2 coating on TiO2 (001) nanosheets (abbreviated as MST) can be a promising candidate that overcomes some of the challenges of TiO2 (001). Computational and experimental results demonstrate that MST as a photocatalyst exhibits a significantly low-charge recombination rate as well as excellent long-term durability. The synthesized MST 2D nanocomposites show a 31.9% increase in photocatalytic activity for hydrogen (H2 ) production relative to the counterpart TiO2 (001). MST offers a new route for further improvement of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 with exposed high energy facets.