Implanting TiO2 @MoS2/BiVO4 nanocomposites via sonochemically assisted photoinduced charge carriers promotes highly efficient photocatalytic removal of tetracycline

Abstract

In recent decades, antibiotics have been identified in the aquatic environment, raising serious concerns. This study demonstrates antibiotic degradation via a photocatalytic technique through novel TiO2 @MoS2/BiVO4 nanocomposites created using a simple hydrothermal method in the absence or presence of ultrasonic irradiation. Several approaches were applied to characterize the structural, morphological, electrical, and optical properties of the as-synthesized catalysts. It confirmed the successful heterostructure formation with superior properties compared to bare samples. Furthermore, tetracycline antibiotics were investigated for photocatalytic degradation. The results reveal that the TiO2 @ 2 M/8B (US) composite shows outperformance compared to other composites regarding photocatalytic activity toward tetracycline degradation. After five cycles, TiO2 @ 2 M/8B (US) and TiO2 @ 2 M/8B (NUS) exhibit sufficient stability for tetracycline degradation. Throughout the degradation process, superoxide and hydroxyl radicals were found to be the key active species. According to the results, TiO2 @ 2 M/8B (US) has much better catalytic activity than TiO2 @ 2 M/8B (NUS). The synergistic effect of ultrasonic irradiation and the TiO2 optical bandgap reduction by stacking BiVO4 and MoS2 is responsible for this remarkable photocatalytic improvement.