Rapid Solar-Light Driven Superior Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue Using MoS(2)-ZnO Heterostructure Nanorods Photocatalyst

Herein, MoS(2)-ZnO heterostructure nanorods were hydrothermally synthesized and characterized in detail using several compositional, optical, and morphological techniques. The comprehensive characterizations show that the synthesized MoS(2)/ZnO heterostructure nanorods were composed of wurtzite hexagonal phase of ZnO and rhombohedral phase of MoS(2). The synthesized MoS(2)/ZnO heterostructure nanorods were used as a potent photocatalyst for the decomposition of methylene blue (MB) dye under natural sunlight. The prepared MoS(2)/ZnO heterostructure nanorods exhibited ~97% removal of MB in the reaction time of 20 min with the catalyst amount of 0.15 g/L. The kinetic study revealed that the photocatalytic removal of MB was found to be in accordance with pseudo first-order reaction kinetics with an obtained rate constant of 0.16262 min(−1). The tremendous photocatalytic performance of MoS(2)-ZnO heterostructure nanorods could be accredited to an effective charge transportation and inhibition in the recombination of photo-excited charge carriers at an interfacial heterojunction. The contribution of active species towards the decomposition of MB using MoS(2)-ZnO heterostructure nanorods was confirmed from scavenger study and terephthalic acid fluorescence technique.