Hydrothermally synthesized micron sized, broom-shaped MoSe2 nanostructures for superior photocatalytic water purification

In the present work, we are reporting micron sized broom-shaped MoSe2 nanostructures. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) confirmed the broom shaped morphology with an average diameter similar to 150 nmand length similar to 10 mu m. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) studies confirmed the highly crystalline hexagonal phase of MoSe2, nanostructures. The band gap of the material was estimated to be 1.8 eV by Tauc's plot. Broom-shaped MoSe2 nanostructures acted as an efficient photocatalytic material as tested on an organic pollutant viz. Methylene Blue (MB) with degradation efficiency similar to 90% in first 20 min of experiment and rate kinetics were also studied that fitted well with the pseudo-second-order model.