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Design and fabrication of efficient and stable photocatalysts are critically required for practical applications of solar water splitting. Herein, a series of WSe2/TiO2 nanocomposites were constructed through a facile mechanical grinding method, and all of the nanocomposites exhibited boosted photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. It was discovered that the enhanced photocatalytic performance was attributed to the efficient electron transfer from TiO2 to WSe2 and the abundant active sites provided by WSe2 nanosheets. Moreover, the intimate heterojunction between WSe2 nanosheets and TiO2 favors the interfacial charge separation. As a result, a highest hydrogen evolution rate of 2.28 mmol/g·h, 114 times higher than pristine TiO2, was obtained when the weight ratio of WSe2/(WSe2 + TiO2) was adjusted to be 20%. The designed WSe2/TiO2 heterojunctions can be regarded as a promising photocatalysts for high-throughput hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of earth-abundant and highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reactions (HER/OER) is crucial for hydrogen production through overall water splitting. Herein, we report a novel nanostructure consisting of vertically oriented CoP hierarchical nanosheet arrays with in situ-assembled carbon skeletons on a Ti foil electrode. The novel Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-67 (ZIF-67) template-derived hierarchical nanosheet architecture effectively improved electrical conductivity, facilitated electrolyte transport, and increased the exposure of the active sites. The obtained bifunctional hybrid exhibited a low overpotential of 72 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a small Tafel slope of 65 mV dec−1 for HER, and an improved overpotential of 329 mV and a Tafel slope of 107 mV dec−1 for OER. Furthermore, the assembled C@CoP||C@CoP electrolyzer showed excellent overall water splitting performance (1.63 V) at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and superior durability. This work provides a structure engineering strategy for metal–organic framework (MOF) template-derived hybrids with outstanding electrocatalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]