Electrospinning and hydrothermal synthesis of recyclable MoS2/CNFs hybrid with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance

Abstract In this work, a two-step synthesis route combining an electrospinning method and a hydrothermal process was used to prepare MoS 2 /CNFs hybrid. CNFs was applied as the matrix for the nucleation and growth of MoS 2 nanosheets. In this hybrid, the crisscrossed MoS 2 nanosheets were randomly aligned and densely packed over the surface of CNFs. We probed the photocatalytic activity of MoS 2 /CNFs hybrid to degrade rhodamine B (Rh B) in an aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. The hybrid displayed higher photodegradation performance relative to MoS 2 and mechanical mixture of MoS 2 with CNFs, with 67% Rh B completely degraded over 5 h-period. We attributed such enhancement in photocatalytic activity to the enhanced absorption property and electrical conductivity due to the synergy between MoS 2 and CNFs. The hybrid can furthermore be easily separated from the solution and reused for the subsequent photodegradation cycles. We verified the negligible loss in the photodegradation activity of MoS 2 /CNFs hybrid towards Rh B during the three subsequent cycles. The high photocatalytic activity and recyclability of the hybrid render its practical application to degrade organic pollutants (i.e., dye compounds) in industrial wastewater.