Green synthesis of mesoporous MoS2 nanoflowers for efficient photocatalytic degradation of Congo red dye

Abstract

A one-step, facile and scalable hydrothermal route was employed to synthesize molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanoflowers (NFs) for use in the photodegradation of Congo red (CR) dye. The phase purity, morphology, and structural features of the produced mesoporous MoS2-NFs were examined using PXRD, FESEM, EDX, XPS, BET, Raman and UV-visible DRS techniques. The nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms display a clear H-3-type of hysteresis loop at P/P-o of 0.8-1.0, which affords an insight into the mesoporous nature of the MoS2 NFs with a pore diameter of 1.5 to 40 nm. The mesoporous MoS2 NFs showed excellent CR degradation activity under solar light irradiation with a K-app of 0.76 x 10(-2 )min(-1). Importantly, the results showed a notable impact of reaction media on the degradation of CR suggesting that pH 7 is a favorable medium for this particular catalytic reaction. A kinetic study has illustrated that photodegradation of CR follows pseudo-first order kinetics. This work illustrates that mesoporous MoS2 NFs can be used as an efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of highly toxic and hazardous organic dyes in environmental remediation.