High-Efficiency Cycling Piezo-Degradation of Organic Pollutants and the Piezocatalysis–Adsorption Duality of MoS2 Nanoflowers

Abstract

This study realized the large-scale piezo-catalytic RhB dye degradation by forming a catalytic filter of 2H phase MoS2 and carbon cloth. Over 2.5 liters of the organic pollutant can be fully decomposed through the application of a water pumping system. The results obtained indicate that 2H MoS2 NFs were highly reusable and have excellent potential for the application in industrial wastewater treatment. Furthermore, this study theoretically and experimentally investigates the piezocatalytic and adsorption effects of different phases of polymorphic MoS2 NFs. By adjusting the electrostatic surface charge of these NFs and the RhB solution, different crystalline phases of MoS2 NFs would result in either adsorption or piezo-catalytic effects toward the organic dye. The results evident that the cationic dye is adsorbed on the surfaces of the 1T MoS2 NFs; however, the few-layer 2H MoS2 NFs generate a considerable quantity of hydroxyl species for degrading RhB molecules through the mechanical-force-induced piezo-potential. Figure 1