Abstract
This project presents the fabrication of an efficient heterojunction photocatalyst through combining 3D MoS(2) nanoflowers with 2D MoO(3) nanobelts, both having highly prominent photocatalytic features. The prepared MoS(2)@MoO(3) heterojunction exhibited superior photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of Azo dye under visible light irradiation and attained about 96% degradation within four hours. Such a high photocatalytic activity might be associated with the high BET surface area, and especially with the S-scheme mechanism that occurs between p-type MoS(2) and p-type MoO(3), probably due to the fact that this offers effectively separated and transitioned photogenerated electron-hole pairs, while the recombination rate is reduced. The addition of MoO(3) increased the bandgap of MoS(2) and consequently enhanced the photoinduced electron transfer rate and prolonged the lifetime of the charge carriers. In a word, the generation of hole and (•)O(2)(-) radicals in the whole process of degradation, which have been proved by scavenger tests and Mott-Schottky analysis, proved the MoS(2)@MoO(3) p-p heterojunction to be photocatalytically active. This work underlines the successful application of bandgap and morphological engineering in the design of photocatalysts and points out the 3D/2D MoS(2)@MoO(3) heterojunction structure as the basis for further development of transition metal chalcogenide (TMC)/transition metal oxide (TMO) photocatalysts with a view to tackling important environmental problems by means of sustainable technologies.