Fabrication of fibrous BiVO4/Bi2S3/MoS2 heterojunction and synergetic enhancement of photocatalytic activity towards pollutant degradation

A novel fibrous BiVO 4 /Bi 2 S 3 /MoS 2 heterojunction is facilely constructed by simple electrospinning and hydrothermal processes. Bi 2 S 3 was formed concurrently along with the hydrothermal synthesis of MoS 2 on to the porous structure of BiVO 4 fibers. The BiVO 4 /Bi 2 S 3 /MoS 2 (BBM) heterojunction is organized with MoS 2 nanosheets of several layers in thickness encapsulating both on the Bi 2 S 3 nanorod around 40 ​nm in diameter and fibrous BiVO 4 template. The BiVO 4 /Bi 2 S 3 /MoS 2 heterojunction shows significant enhancement of visible light absorption in the region of 500–800 ​nm and photocurrent of 3 times higher than that of pure BiVO 4 . By adjusting the precursor concentration of MoS 2 , the optimized BBM-2 sample presents 4.9 and 9.5 times higher of the photodegradation efficiency and apparent reaction rate constant respectively, than that of pure BiVO 4 fibers after 120 ​min under visible light irradiation . The present work will provide a new strategy to the design of Bi-contained nanofibrous heterojunctions with high photocatalytic activity for the applications in energy storage and conversion.