In situ irradiated X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy on Ag-WS2 heterostructure for hydrogen production enhancement

The hot electron transition of noble materials to catalysis accelerated by localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) was detected by in situ irradiated X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ISI-XPS) in this article. This paper synthesized an Ag Nanowire (AgNW) @ WS2 core-shell structure, with an ultra-thin shell of WS2 (3 ∼ 7 nm), and characterized its photocatalytic properties. The AgNW@WS2 core-shell structure exhibited different surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) effects by changing shell thickness, indicating that the effect of AgNW could be controlled by WS2 shell. Furthermore, the hydrogen production of AgNW@WS2 could reach to 356% of that of pure WS2. The hot electrons arising from the LSPRs effect broke through the Schottky barrier between WS2 and AgNW and transferred to the WS2 shell, whose photocatalytic effect was thus enhanced. In addition, when the LSPRs effect was intensified by reducing the shell thickness, the hot electron transition of noble materials to catalysis was accelerated.