Effect of molecular weight of polyethylene glycol on the sheet-thickness and photocatalytic performance of MoS2 nanoparticles

Abstract Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) nanomaterials have attracted considerable attention recently owing to its unique photoelectrochemistry property and promising applications in the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy and environmental purification. Flower-like MoS 2 photocatalyst was synthesised via hydrothermal method in this work. To achieve the MoS 2 nanoparticles with various sheet-thickness, polyethylene glycols (PEG) with deferent molecular mass were employed as additives in the preparation process. The effects of the molecular weight of PEG on the micro structure and crystal structure of MoS 2 nanoparticles were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The photocatalytic properties of as-synthesized products were evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet irradiation. The results suggest that the molecular weight of PEG could affect the sheet thickness of the MoS 2 particles. In addition, the degradation rate of MB show that the photocatalytic performance of MoS 2 nanoparticles is closely related to their sheet thickness, the photocatalytic activity reduced with the decrease of sheet thickness of MoS 2 nanoparticles which is mainly attributed to the reduction of the active sites.