Layered metal phosphorous trichalcogenides nanosheets: facile synthesis and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Layered transition metal phosphorous trichalcogenide (MPX₃) materials have attracted immense attention due to their excellent optical and electrical properties. However, the controllable synthesis of ultrathin MPX₃ nanosheets is still challenging. Here, we present a facile phosphosulfurization scheme to prepare high-quality layered FePS₃ nanosheets, with ∼20 nanometers in thickness. The optical properties of the as-obtained FePS₃ show good light-harvesting ability, which endows it with excellent photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance (402.4 μmol g^-1 h^-1) under the simulated solar illumination. We further show that other MPX₃ family members such as In_2/3PS₃ and CdPS₃ can be also synthesized by the same approach. Our finding can offer a feasible approach for rationally designing other MPX₃ materials for various applications.