Highly effective photocatalytic performance of {001}-TiO2/MoS2/RGO hybrid heterostructures for the reduction of Rh B

Effective separation and rapid transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs are key features of photocatalytic materials with high catalytic activity, which could be achieved in co-catalysts. It is reported that the two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 is a promising co-catalyst due to its unique semi-conductive properties and graphene-like layered structure. However, the application of MoS2 as a co-catalyst is limited by its poor electrical conductivity. On the other hand, it is worth noting that TiO2 possesses reactive crystal facets, which is one of the dominant mechanisms for the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In this work, we prepared MoS2/RGO hybrids as co-catalysts which were doped to TiO2 with highly reactive {001} planes via the hydrothermal method. It was found that the {001}-TiO2/MoS2/RGO photocatalysts with 7 wt% MoS2/RGO co-catalyst show the highest photodegradation activity for the degradation of Rh B under visible light irradiation (λ > 400 nm), which could result from the synergy of the effective separation of electron-hole pairs by the {001} facets in TiO2 and the rapid transfer of electron-hole pairs in MoS2/RGO. The results show that the {001}-TiO2/MoS2/RGO hybrid is a low-cost and stable photocatalyst for the effective degradation of Rh B under visible light.