Modular divergent creation of dual-cocatalysts integrated semiconducting sulfide nanotriads for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Heteronanostructures (HNs) with precise components and interfaces are important for many applications, such as designing efficient and robust solar-to-fuel catalysts via integrating specific semiconductors with favorable band alignments. However, rationally endowing such features with rigorous framework control remains a synthetic bottleneck. Herein, we report a modular divergent creation of dual-cocatalysts integrated semiconducting sulfide nanotriads (NTds), comprising both isolated Pd_xS oxidation (ox) and MoS₂ reduction (red) domains within each single CdS counterpart, which exhibit superior photocatalytic activity and stability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The stepwise constructed Pd_xS_(ox)−CdS−MoS_2(red) NTds possess dual-interfaces facilitating continuous charge separation and segregated active sites accelerating redox reactions, respectively, achieving the HER rate up to 9 mmol·h⁻¹·g⁻¹, which is about 60 times higher than that of bare CdS, and show no evidence of deactivation after long-term cycling. This design principle and transformation protocol provide predictable retrosynthetic pathways to HNs with increased degree of complexity and more elaborate functionalities that are otherwise inaccessible.