Novel MoS2/C nanosheets as excellent piezocatalyst for degradation of imidacloprid with ultralow dosage

MoS2/C ultrathin nanosheets were synthesized via hydrothermal method by adding soft template of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and employed as the piezocatalyst for the degradation of imidacloprid (IMD). Compared with pure MoS2, MoS2/C nanosheets shows excellent piezocatalytic degradation rate of 96% in 15 min with ultralow dosage (30 mg.L-1). The removal efficiency of total organic carbon (TOC) also remains over 80% after ten cycles. The improved piezocatalytic performance is attributed to the large surface area with more edges and unsaturated S atoms of MoS2/C ultrathin nanosheets, which is vital for the mass transfer of the reactants and products and facilitate piezoelectric effect. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.