Efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants over TiO2 nanoparticles modified with nitrogen and MoS2 under visible light irradiation

Abstract

Abstract Investigate the use of visible light to improve photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater. Nitrogen-doped titania and molybdenum sulfide nanocomposites (NTM NCs) with different weight ratios of MoS 2 (1, 2, and 3 wt.%) synthesized by a solid state method applied to the photodegradation of methylene blue(MB) under visible light irradiation. The synthesized NTM composites were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, FT-IR, UV–Vis, DRS and PL spectroscopy. The results showed enhanced activity of NTM hybrid nanocrystals in oxidizing MB in water under visible light irradiation compared to pure TiO 2 . The photocatalytic performance of NTM samples increased with MoS 2 content. The results show that the photodegradation efficiency of the TiO 2 compound improved from 13 to 82% in the presence of N-TiO 2 and to 99% in the presence of MoS 2 containing N-TiO 2 , which is 7.61 times higher than that of TiO 2 . Optical characterization results show enhanced nanocomposite absorption in the visible region with long lifetimes between e/h+ at optimal N-TiO 2 /MoS 2 (NTM 2 ) ratio. Reusable experiments indicated that the prepared NTM NCs photocatalysts were stable during MB photodegradation and had practical applications for environmental remediation.