Photocatalytic degradation of dye wastewater by stepwise assembling PVA aerogel/TiO2/MoS2/Au composites in visible light

Water Sci Technol. 2022 May;85(9):2625-2638. doi: 10.2166/wst.2022.106.

Abstract

A PVA aerogel/TiO2/MoS2/Au catalyst formed gradually using a hydrothermal method is used to degrade Rhodamine B. SEM and TEM results show that the composite presents a uniform and well-structured porous network structure, high specific surface area and large pore diameter were proved by the results of nitrogen adsorption measurement. UV-vis DRS and PL results indicate that the composite has a high absorption rate in the visible light range, and the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs can be effectively inhibited because the composite material forms a heterojunction. In the photocatalytic degradation experiment of Rhodamine B, the composite material shows high photocatalytic performance, which can reach 86% in two hours of light. The photocatalysts supported by PVA are easy to recover and have high catalytic performance even after five recycles. The study shows that PVA/TiO2/MoS2/Au composite material has great potential to be used for the degradation of dye wastewater.