Construction of 1T-MoS2 quantum dots-interspersed (Bi1- x Fe x )VO4 heterostructures for electron transport and photocatalytic properties

Muhammad Munir Sajid; Haifa Zhai; Naveed Akhtar Shad; Muhammad Shafique; Amir Muhammad Afzal; Yasir Javed; Sadaf Bashir Khan; Nasir Amin; Zhengjun Zhang

doi:10.1039/d1ra00807b

Construction of 1T-MoS₂ quantum dots-interspersed (Bi_{1- x} Fe _x )VO₄ heterostructures for electron transport and photocatalytic properties

RSC Adv. 2021 Apr 7;11(22):13105-13118. doi: 10.1039/d1ra00807b.

Authors

Muhammad Munir Sajid¹, Haifa Zhai^{1

2}, Naveed Akhtar Shad³, Muhammad Shafique⁴, Amir Muhammad Afzal⁵, Yasir Javed⁶, Sadaf Bashir Khan⁷, Nasir Amin³, Zhengjun Zhang⁸

Affiliations

¹ Henan Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Materials, School of Physics, Henan Normal University Xinxiang 453007 China m.munirsajid476@gmail.com haifazhai@126.com.
² College of Materials Science and Engineering Henan Normal University China.
³ Department of Physics, Government College University Allama Iqbal Road Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Microbiology, Government College University Allama Iqbal Road Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan.
⁵ The State Key Laboratory for New Ceramics & Fine Processing, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 China.
⁶ Department of Physics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan.
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Graphene Research Institute, Sejong University Seoul 05006 Korea.
⁸ Advanced Key Laboratory for New Ceramics, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 China.

Abstract

The present study reports trigonal phase molybdenum disulfide quantum dots (MoS₂/QDs)-decorated (Bi_1-x Fe _x )VO₄ composite heterostructures. Initially, (Bi_1-x Fe _x )VO₄ heterostructure nanophotocatalysts were synthesized through the hydrothermal method decorated with 1T-MoS₂ via a sonication process. 1T-MoS₂@(Bi_1-x Fe _x )VO₄ heterostructures were characterized in detail for phase purity and crystallinity using XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The Raman mode evaluation indicated monoclinic, mixed monoclinic-tetragonal and tetragonal structure development with increasing Fe concentration. For physiochemical properties, SEM, EDX, XPS, PL, EPR, UV-visible and BET techniques were applied. The optical energy band gaps of 1T-MoS₂@(Bi_1-x Fe _x )VO₄ heterostructures were calculated using the Tauc plot method. It shows a blue shift initially within a monoclinic structure then a red shift with an increase of Fe concentration. 1T-MoS₂@(Bi₄₀Fe₆₀)VO₄ with 2 wt% of 1T-MoS₂-QDs carrying a mixed phase exhibited higher photocatalytic activity. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to the higher electron transportation from (Bi_1-x Fe _x )VO₄ surface onto 1T-MoS₂ surface, consequently blocking the fast electron-hole recombination within (Bi_1-x Fe _x )VO₄. 1T-MoS₂ co-catalyst interaction with (Bi_1-x Fe _x )VO₄ enhanced the light absorption in the visible region. The close contact of small 1T-MoS₂-QDs with (Bi_1-x Fe _x )VO₄ develops a high degree of crystallinity, with fewer defects showing mesoporous/nanoporous structures within the heterostructures which allows more active sites. Herein, the mechanism involved in the synthesis of heterostructures and optimum conditions for photocatalytic degradation of crystal violet dye are explored and discussed thoroughly.