2D Bi2WO6/MoS2 as a new photo-activated carrier for boosting electrocatalytic methanol oxidation with visible light illumination

In this paper, a new two-dimensional (2D)/2D composite of Bi2WO6/MoS2 was facile synthesized, and then was used as supporting material for depositing Pt nanoparticles. The as-synthesized Pt-Bi2WO6/MoS2 was extended into photo-assisted electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol, which is a model anode reaction for direct methanol fuel cell. Compare with traditional electrocatalytic process, Pt-Bi2WO6/MoS2 displays 1.5 times enhanced electrocatalytic performance on methanol oxidation with assistance of visible light irradiation and 2.2 times for commercial Pt/C. Besides, from the results of chronoamperometric and chronopotentiometry experiments, the stability of Pt-Bi2WO6/MoS2 electrode is clearly improved under visible light irradiation. The synergistic effects of photo- and electro-catalytic in the heterojunction of Pt-Bi2WO6/MoS2 in favor of the above enhancement. This research gives more insights in the fields of photo-assisted traditional electrocatalytic application by constructing of semiconductor heterojunction carrier. (C) 2019 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.