Facile fabrication of PbS/MoS2 nanocomposite photocatalyst with efficient photocatalytic activity under visible light

Abstract A PbS/MoS 2 nanocomposite was synthesized in different molar ratio of PbS 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% by precipitation – deposition method and successfully characterized by various instrumental techniques such as UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), BET-surface area, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity was monitored via the degradation of methylene blue dye and the results revealed that 1% PbS/MoS 2 shows better photocatalytic activity than that of 0.5%PbS/MoS 2 and 1.5%PbS/MoS 2 . The effect of operational parameters such as pH and catalyst dosage on the photocatalytic activity was investigated. The PbS-MoS 2 nanocomposite exhibit excellent photocatalytic degradation on methylene blue (MB) dye under visible light irradiation.