Experimental and Theoretical Investigation on Sunlight Driven Photocatalytic Activity of 2d Layered Mos2/Zns Heterostructure for the Degradation of Dyes

摘要: In this era when the whole of humanity joins hands to conserve the atmosphere of the earth through eco-friendly initiatives, waste water management poses a serious concern. In this context, we herein report a cost effective and efficient route for the treatment of waste water with the aid of hydrothermally synthesized MoS 2/ZnS nanocomposite using a theoretical and experimental approach and it is demonstrated by considering Methylene Blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) as model dyes. MoS 2/ZnS composite shows a degradation of 98.29% for MB and 93.01% for RhB respectively within 60 minutes of exposure to natural sunlight. This photocatalytic activity is found to be due to its larger light absorption and lower electron-hole recombination for the degradation of dyes without producing any harmful byproducts. An evaluation of self cleaning property and hydrophobic nature of MoS 2 using contact angle measurements have also been performed. To support the experimental observations, we have carried out Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations for dye molecules as well as for the prepared materials inorder to understand the mechanism behind degradation. The well correlation between experimental and theoretical ideas gives an insight into the photocatalysis degradation mechanism of our prepared composite material. Based on these observations, we present MoS 2/ZnS nanocomposite as an efficient photocatalytic material among other 2D layered van der Waals composites.