As a promising catalyst, MoS2 has been widely
studied
owing to its high chemical reactivity, excellent electrical carrier
mobility, good optical properties, and narrow band gap. However, the
high recombination rate of photoinduced charge carriers limits its
practical application in photocatalysis. In this study, MoS2 was coupled with PANI to fabricate an S-scheme heterojunction MoS2/PANI. The synthesized products were characterized systematically,
and their photocatalytic properties were evaluated by photocatalytic
degradation of norfloxacin (NOR) and rhodamine B (RhB). The obtained
results indicated that the fabricated MoS2/PANI inorganic–organic
heterojunction displayed tremendously enhanced photocatalytic activity.
The degradation efficiencies for 60 mg L–1 of NOR
and RhB are 86 and 100% under the simulated sunlight irradiation for
1 h with 10 mg of catalyst, which are 13 and 47 times higher than
those of pure MoS2, respectively. Interestingly, it is
superior to the previously reported related materials. The remarkably
enhanced photocatalytic activity of MoS2 is assigned to
the high charge conductivity feature of PANI and the formed S-scheme
heterojunction that result in a steric separation of holes and electrons
and conserve the initial powerful redox ability of the parent catalysts.
This study provides a facile method to greatly improve the photocatalytic
activity of MoS2 and facilitates its application for highly
efficient removal of organic pollutants, such as antibiotic drugs
and organic dyes, utilizing solar energy.