Synthesis of mesoporous C/MoS2 for adsorption of methyl orange and photo-catalytic sterilization

Abstract

Porous molybdenum disulfide has bright prospect for applications in adsorption and catalysis. Herein, a simple hydrothermal method has been developed to synthesize mesoporous C/MoS2 composites using (NH4)6Mo7O24⋅4H2O, sublimed sulfur, ethylene glycol (EG) and H2O as raw material. EG is both reducing agent and carbon source in the synthetic reaction. The layer thickness of MoS2 nanosheets, carbon content and specific surface area of C/MoS2 composite can be controlled by adjusting the amount of EG. The introduction of carbon into ultrathin MoS2 nanosheets can protect the edge active sites of MoS2 by preventing its aggregation. The prepared C/MoS2 composites have large specific surface area of ~209.36 m2/g, ultrathin nanosheets of less than 6 layers, rich edge active sites and excellent ultraviolet–visible light absorption properties. Thus they can be used for the removal of methyl orange (MO) in dye wastewater, the easily recycled adsorbent has very high MO adsorption capacity of ~450 mg/g at pH = 1. They also easily generate photo-electrons and holes under visible light irradiation, so Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) can be killed by photo-catalysis.