Superior photooxidative desulfurization of thiophene by reduced graphene oxide-supported MoS2 nanoflakes under visible light

Abstract

Transition metal chalcogenides (TMC) have received much attention as active photocatalysts for environmental remediation. Additionally, the removal of sulfur-containing substances such as thiophene (TP) has become a requirement in fuel processing technology. Herein, we have synthesized MoS2 nanoflakes via a sol-gel method. Subsequently, MoS2 was loaded onto reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to produce a MoS2@rGO photocatalyst. The improved MoS2@rGO photocatalyst demonstrated total photooxidative desulfurization of TP after 75 min under visible light, and it exhibited excellent recyclability. The prepared nanocomposite exhibited enhanced visible light absorption with a decrease of the bandgap from 1.92 to 1.69 eV at 15 wt% of rGO addition. The recombination of the produced charge carriers was also diminished, as confirmed by photoluminescence and photocurrent measurements in the presence of rGO. This work will shed light on using rGO-supported TMC-based photocatalysts for fuel and related industries.