Synergically improving light harvesting and charge transportation of TiO2 nanobelts by deposition of MoS2 for enhanced photocatalytic removal of Cr(VI)

Abstract

Herein, MoS2/TiO2 nanobelts heterojunction have been successfully synthesized by in situ growth method for photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI). TiO2 nanobelts (NBs) with rough surface were prepared firstly by acidic treatment process, which is beneficial for deposition and growth of MoS2 to form heterojunctions. As a result of special energy level offset and nanostructure, MoS2/TiO2 NBs composite were endowed with higher light-harvesting capacity and charge transportation efficiency, which are indispensible merits for excellent photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) reveals that the synthesized MoS2/TiO2 NBs composite have superior photocatalytic ability than other samples. Meanwhile, a photoreduction mechanism is proposed based on the systematic investigation, where the photogenerated electrons are demonstrated as the dominant reductive species to reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III).