Synthesis of ultrathin-layered MoS2/conductive mica composites with enhanced visible photocatalytic activity

Abstract The spontaneous curvature and agglomeration, which are two disadvantages of MoS2 sheets, cast negative impact on its photocatalytic efficiency. In the work, the flake-like conductive mica (C-mica) as a rigid carrier is introduced to fabricate MoS2/C-mica composites with the heterostructure by a straightforward one-step hydrothermal strategy, through which the curvature and agglomeration of ultrathin-layered MoS2 on the surface of C-mica have been effectively restrained, which is conducive to heightening the separation effect of photogenerated electron-hole (e--h+) pairs and the photocatalytic ability. The resulted 1.5-MoS2/C-mica can exhibit outstanding visible photocatalytic activity and reusability for tetracycline hydrochloride compared to pristine MoS2 and C-mica, and the degradation rate can achieve 90.6% after 60 min irradiation. Additionally, h+ and ·O2− radicals as the main active sites play an important function during the photocatalytic degradation.