Friction-Induced Enhancements for Photocatalytic Degradation of MoS2@Ti3C2 Nanohybrid

Photocatalytic degradation is a potential method to solve pollution caused by waste lubricating oils. In this work, vertically aligned MoS2 layers are grown on Ti3C2 via hydrothermal method and the influence of the friction time on its photocatalytic performance was studied. The results show that friction benefits the improvement of the efficiency of catalytic degradation because of the change of photocatalysts’ morphology caused by the shear force and pressure from rubbing pair, which generates more active sites. MoS2@Ti3C2 nanohybrid with friction time of 60 min has the best photocatalytic performance in terms of waste oil (liquid paraffin) and methyl orange removal of 80.5 and 98%, respectively. The Schottky junction between Ti3C2 and MoS2 and the heterojunction between MoS2 and TiO2 can prolong the recombination time of electron–hole pairs and widen the absorption range of the visible light, which play a key role in the excellent photocatalytic activity of the MoS2@Ti3C2 nanohybrid.