Construction of 2D layered TiO2@MoS2 Heterostructure for Efficient Adsorption and Photodegradation of Organic Dyes.

In this work, heterostructures of coupled TiO2@MoS2 with different phases of MoS2 were synthesized via hydrothermal technique. The prepared materials were characterized using various techniques, including XRD, SEM, TEM, BET, and UV-vis. The optimized nanocoposites were tested for photocatalytic degradation of Methyl Orange (MO) under visible light radiation and adsorption of Rhodmin b (RhB) and Methelene Blue (MB). The TiO2@1T/2H-MoS2 heterostructures exhibit a narrow bandgap compared to the other materials. A remarkable photodegradation efficiency of TiO2@1T/2H-MoS2 was observed, which completely degraded 20 ppm of MO after 60 min. This can be assigned to the formation of unique heterostructures with aligned energy bands between MoS2 nanosheets and TiO2 nanobelts. The formation of these novel interfaces promoted the electron transfer and increased the separation efficiency of carriers, resulting in high photocatalytic degradation. Furthermore, the adsorption efficiency of TiO2@1T/2H-MoS2 was unique, 20 ppm solutions of RhB and MB were degraded after only 1 and 2 min respectively. The superior adsorption performance of the TiO2@1T/2H-MoS2 can be attributed to its high surface area (279.9 m2/g) and the rich concentration of active sites. This study provides a powerful way for designing an effective photocatalyst and adsorbent TiO2 based nanocomposites for water remediation.