Efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants over TiO2 nanoparticles modified with nitrogen and MoS2 under visible light irradiation

Heba M El Sharkawy; Amira M Shawky; Rania Elshypany; Hanaa Selim

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-35265-7

Efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants over TiO₂ nanoparticles modified with nitrogen and MoS₂ under visible light irradiation

Sci Rep. 2023 May 31;13(1):8845. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35265-7.

Authors

Heba M El Sharkawy¹, Amira M Shawky², Rania Elshypany¹, Hanaa Selim³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Analysis and Evaluation, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City, 11727, Cairo, Egypt.
² Sanitary and Environmental Institute (SEI), Housing and Building National Research Center (HBRC), Giza, 1770, Egypt.
³ Department of Analysis and Evaluation, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City, 11727, Cairo, Egypt. dr.hanaa_epri@hotmail.com.

Abstract

Investigate the use of visible light to improve photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater. Nitrogen-doped titania and molybdenum sulfide nanocomposites (NTM NCs) with different weight ratios of MoS₂ (1, 2, and 3 wt.%) synthesized by a solid state method applied to the photodegradation of methylene blue(MB) under visible light irradiation. The synthesized NTM composites were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, FT-IR, UV-Vis, DRS and PL spectroscopy. The results showed enhanced activity of NTM hybrid nanocrystals in oxidizing MB in water under visible light irradiation compared to pure TiO₂. The photocatalytic performance of NTM samples increased with MoS₂ content. The results show that the photodegradation efficiency of the TiO₂ compound improved from 13 to 82% in the presence of N-TiO₂ and to 99% in the presence of MoS₂ containing N-TiO₂, which is 7.61 times higher than that of TiO₂. Optical characterization results show enhanced nanocomposite absorption in the visible region with long lifetimes between e/h+ at optimal N-TiO₂/MoS₂ (NTM₂) ratio. Reusable experiments indicated that the prepared NTM NCs photocatalysts were stable during MB photodegradation and had practical applications for environmental remediation.