Construction of Ag/MoS2@Fe-CS aerogel as excellent PMS activator via synergistic photocatalysis and photothermal effects

MoS2-based materials are excellent co-catalysts in Fenton-like reaction owing to its photocatalysis effect to accelerate Fe2+/Fe3+ conversion. In addition, heat energy derived from their photothermal effect is also important to promote reaction activity. However, the heat energy is prone to dissipate from nanomaterial, leading to less heat accumulation. Therefore, it is necessary to storage light-to-heat energy through proper strategy. In this work, three-dimensional Ag/MoS2@Fe-chitosan aerogel with tunnel structure was constructed as PMS activator. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, FTIR, XPS, SEM and TEM to explore its structure and morphology. Infrared thermal image test reflected the extraordinary photothermal effect and well heat storage property on Ag/MoS2@Fe-chitosan aerogel. Batch degradation experiments indicated that Ag/MoS2@Fe-chitosan aerogel is an excellent PMS activator for tetracycline degradation, which can be ascribed to the synergistic photocatalysis and photothermal effects. The photogenerated electrons from Ag/MoS2 reduced Fe3+ to Fe2+ for activating PMS, while the rapid light-to-heat conversion ability benefited for the generation of photogenerated electrons and reactive oxygen species. The strategy of tunnel structure construction used in this work made fully use of light energy, which has a huge improvement on PMS activation.