Investigation of structural, electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional MoS 2 -doped-V 2 O 5 composites for photocatalytic application: a density functional theory study

Abstract

In the present research, the structural, electronic and optical properties of transition metal dichalcogenide-doped transition metal oxides MoS 2 -doped-V 2 O 5 with various doping concentrations ( x = 1–3%) of MoS 2 atoms are studied by using first principles calculation. The generalized gradient approximation Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof simulation approach is used to investigate the energy bandgap ( E g ) of orthorhombic structures. We examined the energy bandgap ( E g ) decrement from 2.76 to 1.30 eV with various doping ( x = 1–3%) of molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) atoms. The bandgap nature shows that the material is a well-known direct bandgap semiconductor. MoS 2 doping ( x = 1–3%) atoms in pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) creates the extra gamma active states which contribute to the formation of conduction and valance bands. MoS 2 -doped-V 2 O 5 composite is a proficient photocatalyst, has a large surface area for absorption of light, decreases the electron-hole pairs recombination rate and increases the charge transport. A comprehensive study of optical conductivity reveals that strong peaks of MoS 2 -doped-V 2 O 5 increase in ultraviolet spectrum region with small shifts at larger energy bands through increment doping x = 1–3% atoms of MoS 2 . A significant decrement was found in the reflectivity due to the decrement in the bandgap with doping. The optical properties significantly increased by the decrement of bandgap ( E g ). Two-dimensional MoS 2 -doped-V 2 O 5 composite has high energy absorption, optical conductivity and refractive index, and is an appropriate material for photocatalytic applications.