Enhanced photocatalytic activity of molybdenum disulfide by compositing ZnAl–LDH

Abstract

MoS2 is a new type of two-dimensional material that can be used in the field of photocatalysis, but its agglomeration characteristics limit its use. So we tried to combine MoS2 with hydrotalcite to improve the morphology and enhance the performance of MoS2. The XRD, XPS, UV–vis prove that the material obtained is molybdenum disulfide intercalated zinc-aluminum hydrotalcite, and the SEM shows the particle size of molybdenum disulfide is reduced due to the interlaminar structure of hydrotalcite. Then, in the experiment of degrading methylene blue, the effects of cation ratio, thiourea dosage, pH and catalyst dosage on degradation were investigated. After 30 min of adsorption and 150 min of illumination, the maximum degradation rate of methylene blue can reach 93 %. And by analyzing the photocatalytic effect of the physical mixing of the two materials, it can be concluded that the photocatalytic performance of the composite material is better than that of the physical mixing of the two materials, which is close to 60 %. Therefore, composite with hydrotalcite enhances photocatalytic performance of MoS2, so the composite of MoS2/LDH has great potential in the field of photocatalytic degradation.