Preparation of MoS2@ZnO heterostructure with enhanced photocatalytic activity

In order to effectively solve environmental problems induced by organic pollutants, the MoS2@ZnO heterostructure is successfully fabricated via a two-step hydrothermal method, in which the MoS2 nanosheets grew on the surface of ZnO nanorods. The synthetic heterostructure is demonstrated to possess excellent photocatalytic activity in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet (UV) and visible light irradiation. The corresponding photodegradation rate constant of MoS2@ZnO heterostructure reaches up to 0.02075 min(-1) and 0.00916 min(-1), which are higher than that of pure ZnO (0.00514 min(-1) and 0.00048 min(-1)) under the same reaction conditions. Obviously, compared with pure ZnO, the photocatalytic activity of the MoS2@ZnO heterostructure has been significantly improved. This could be attributed to the increased specific surface area of photocatalyst and the formation of heterostructure between ZnO and MoS2 after loading the MoS2 on the surface of ZnO nanorods. Which help to provide more reaction sites for the adsorption of pollutant and improve the separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs.