Microstructure Optimization of Mos2/Sepiolite Nanocomposites via a Surfactant-Assisted Hydrothermal Strategy for High Efficiency Photocatalysis

Abstract

The unique structure of two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) with rich active sites makes it a promising catalyst, whereas it also brings structural instability. Surfactant-assisted synthesis of MoS2 can be regarded as a simple way to regulate the microstructure. In this work, the surfactant additives were adopted to optimize the microstructure of MoS2/sepiolite nanocomposite, and the effects of surfactants type and concentration were investigated. For the sample prepared with 1 mol/L sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), it exhibits the highest intensity for the peak of MoS2 at 14.2°, highly dispersed MoS2 nanosheet on the sepiolite, the lowest absorption intensity of Rhodamine B (RhB) at 553 nm of the wavelength, and the highest photocatalytic activity which is 2.5 times and 4.2 times higher than those prepared with 1 mol/L hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and 1 mol/L polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) after a 150-minute irradiation, respectively. The above results suggest SDBS is the optimal surfactant to optimize the microstructure of MoS2/sepiolite nanocomposite. This work could provide new insights into the fabrication of high-quality MoS2-based nanocomposite.