Synthesis of MoS₂-TiO₂ nanocomposite for enhanced photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical performance under visible light irradiation

Mehta, Manan; Singh, Aadesh P.; Kumar, Sandeeep; Krishnamurthy, Satheesh; Wickman, Björn and Basu, Suddhasatwa (2018). Synthesis of MoS₂-TiO₂ nanocomposite for enhanced photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical performance under visible light irradiation. Vacuum, 155 pp. 675–681.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2018.05.052

Abstract

In this work, we have prepared MoS₂ nanoflakes modified TiO₂ nanoparticles (MoS₂-TiO₂ nanocomposite) with varying concentration of MoS₂ (2.5–10 wt.%) by a two-step hydrothermal synthesis method involving specific preparation conditions for the TiO₂ nanoparticles and MoS₂ nanoflakes. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The photocatalytic activity of the pristine TiO₂ nanoparticles and MoS₂-TiO₂ nanocomposite samples were evaluated by examining the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). The photoelectrochemical activity of these samples were measured by performing solar water splitting experiments under visible light irradiation. It was observed that the MoS₂-TiO₂ nanocomposite with 7.5 wt.% MoS₂ exhibits highest photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical activity as it has the optimum amount of MoS₂ nanoflakes which probably minimizes the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers as compared to other concentrations of MoS₂ in MoS₂-TiO₂ nanocomposite and pristine TiO₂ nanoparticles. In addition, a rather high photocatalytic reaction rate constant was observed for MoS₂-TiO₂ nanocomposite with 7.5 wt.% MoS₂ nanoflakes.

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