Synthesis of highly dispersed metal sulfide catalysts via low temperature sulfidation in dielectric barrier discharge plasma

A new strategy is reported for the synthesis of supported metal sulfides with high dispersion by sulfidation in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma under ambient conditions. According to the characterization data obtained by XRD, BET, UV-vis, TEM, XPS, ICP, and elemental analysis, the DBD plasma method not only reduces the preparation time but also achieves an increased dispersion, small particle size and uniform distribution compared to the traditional thermal method. These results prove that the plasma preparation method is a facile and flexible approach for the synthesis of metal sulfides. The plasma-prepared CdS/Al₂O₃ and ZnS/Al₂O ₃ catalysts exhibited high performances for hydrogen production from H₂S with reduced energy costs. The enhancement might be attributable to the smaller particle size, higher surface area and dispersion, which enhances the semiconductor catalytic efficiency.