Flower-like N-doped MoS2 for photocatalytic degradation of RhB by visible light irradiation

In this paper, the photocatalytic performance and reusability of N-doped MoS2 nanoflowers with the specific surface area of 114.2 m(2) g(-1) was evaluated by discoloring of RhB under visible light irradiation. Results indicated that the 20 mg fabricated catalyst could completely degrade 50 ml of 30 mg l(-1) RhB in 70 min with excellent recycling and structural stability. The optimized N-doped MoS2 nanoflowers showed a reaction rate constant (k) as high as 0.06928 min(-1) which was 26.4 times that of bare MoS2 nanosheets (k = 0.00262). In addition, it was about seven times that of P25 (k = 0.01) (Hou et al 2015 Sci. Rep. 5 15228). The obtained outstanding photocatalytic performance of N-doped MoS2 nanoflowers provides potential applications in water pollution treatment, as well as other related fields.