Electronic and nanostructure engineering of bifunctional MoS2 towards exceptional visible-light photocatalytic CO2 reduction and pollutant degradation

Bilawal Khan; Fazal Raziq; M Bilal Faheem; M Umar Farooq; Sadam Hussain; Farman Ali; Abid Ullah; Abdurashid Mavlonov; Yang Zhao; Zhongran Liu; He Tian; Huahai Shen; Xiaotao Zu; Sean Li; Haiyan Xiao; Xia Xiang; Liang Qiao

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.120972

Electronic and nanostructure engineering of bifunctional MoS₂ towards exceptional visible-light photocatalytic CO₂ reduction and pollutant degradation

J Hazard Mater. 2020 Jan 5:381:120972. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.120972. Epub 2019 Aug 7.

Authors

Bilawal Khan¹, Fazal Raziq², M Bilal Faheem¹, M Umar Farooq³, Sadam Hussain¹, Farman Ali⁴, Abid Ullah⁵, Abdurashid Mavlonov¹, Yang Zhao¹, Zhongran Liu⁶, He Tian⁶, Huahai Shen⁷, Xiaotao Zu¹, Sean Li⁸, Haiyan Xiao¹, Xia Xiang⁹, Liang Qiao¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China.
² School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China. Electronic address: fazalraziq02@gmail.com.
³ Centre of Medical Imaging, West China Hospital, Sichuan University Chengdu, 60064, PR China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Hazara University Mansehra, 21300, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Botany, University of Malakand, 23050, Pakistan.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310007, China; Center of Electron Microscope, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310007, China.
⁷ Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, PR China.
⁸ School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, NSW Australia.
⁹ School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China. Electronic address: xiaxiang@uestc.edu.cn.
¹⁰ School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, PR China. Electronic address: liangqiao@uestc.edu.cn.

PMID: 31563671
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.120972

Abstract

With recently increasing environmental issues and foreseeable energy crisis, it is desirable to design cheap, efficient, and visible-light responsive nano-photocatalyst for CO₂ conversion and pollutant degradation. Herein, we report a flower-like of MoS₂-based hybrid photocatalyst with high efficiency through nanostructure and electronic structure engineering. Nanostructure control is used to fabricate MoS₂ in to flower-like nanosheets (NSs) with large surface active area. Then MoS₂ is coupled with conduction-band edge matched tin dioxide (SnO₂) and decorated with Ag nanoparticles for suitable work function to create a unique cascade band alignment electronic structure to facilitate photoexcited charge transfer. It is shown that the amount-optimized nanocomposite of SnO₂/Ag/MoS₂ exhibits exceptional visible-light photocatalytic activities for conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to methane (CH₄), approximately one order of magnitude enhancement than original MoS₂ with the apparent quantum efficiency 2.38% at 420 nm. Similarly, the optimized sample also shows high activities for 2,4-diclorophenol, Methylene-Blue, Rhodamine-B and Methyl-Orange degradation as compared to pure MoS₂. It is clearly demonstrated through combination of hydroxyl radical evaluation, photoelectrochemical and electrochemical impedance, that the enhanced photoactivities are attributed to the increased specific surface area, optimized band alignment for charge transfer and suppressed recombination. Our current work provides feasible routes for further research.

Keywords: CO(2)reduction; Charge separation; Flower like MoS(2); Large surface area; Pollutants degradation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't