Exfoliation of 2D materials by saponin in water: Aerogel adsorption / photodegradation organic dye

Abstract

The biggest challenge for the paint industry is to clean the contaminated waste dye solution before it released into the water or to reuse it to create new paint and to protect the water from environmental pollution. Here in this work, exfoliating layered transition metal dichalcogenide materials prepare to the exfoliated 2D materials thin sheets in water with the assistance of natural saponin. Then, the three-dimensional (3D) MoS2-aerogel composite was synthesized by using greenway exfoliated two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 thin sheets to form MoS2-aerogel composite. The prepared 3D MoS2-aerogel composite demonstrates excellent 94% methylene blue (MB) dye adsorption ability over 5 min. Moreover, the adsorbed MB of the MoS2-aerogel shows ∼80% dye degradation activity in the presence of visible light. Therefore, these synthesized 3D MoS2-aerogel composite could be an excellent candidate for photocatalytic applications in the future.