Superior adsorption and photoinduced carries transfer behaviors of dandelion-shaped Bi(2)S(3)@MoS(2): experiments and theory

The enhanced light-harvesting capacity and effective separation of photogenerated carriers in fantastic hierarchical heterostructures enjoy striking attention for potential applications in the field of solar cells and photocatalysis. A three-dimensional (3D) dandelion-shaped hierarchical Bi(2)S(3) microsphere compactly decorated with wing-shaped few layered MoS(2) lamella (D-BM) was fabricated via a facile hydrothermal self-assembly process. Especially, polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been proven as the vital template to form D-BM microsphere. Importantly, the as-prepared D-BM microsphere presents pH-dependent superior adsorption behavior and remarkable visible light photocatalytic activity for degradation of organic dyestuffs (Rhodamine B/RhB and Methylene blue/MB), far exceeding those for the pure Bi(2)S(3) and MoS(2). It is understandable that D-BM with high surface area possesses more active sites and promotes light utilization due to the unique porous structure with outspread wings. Besides, based on the experiments and theoretical calculations, the staggered type II band alignment of D-BM permits the charge injection from Bi(2)S(3) to MoS(2), subsequently accelerates the separation and restrains the recombination of carriers, leading to excellent photocatalytic activity, as well as the photoconductance and photoresponse performance (with I(light)/I(dark) ratio 567).