Heterojunction photocatalyst fabricated by deposition Co3O4 nanoparticles on MoS2 nanosheets with enhancing photocatalytic performance and mechanism insight

A new heterojunction photocatalyst of MoS 2 /Co 3 O 4 was synthesized for degrading water organic pollutants firstly. The heterojunction photocatalyst contains small Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles deposited on the surface of MoS 2 nanosheets. The MoS 2 /Co 3 O 4 heterojunction exhibits superior degradation efficiency than pure MoS 2 and Co 3 O 4 for removing 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) and tetracycline (TC) under visible light. The high degradation efficiency mainly stem from creating heterojunction between MoS 2 and Co 3 O 4 . The uniform particle size of Co 3 O 4 and the better interfacial interaction of MoS 2 and Co 3 O 4 enhance the surface of heterojunction and inhibiting electron-hole pairs recombination. In addition, deep insight in mechanism suggests that holes and superoxide radicals are the major active species in the MBT and TC removal procedures. This present work may provide a promising approach to fabricate other transition metal heterojunction with efficient photocatalytic activity.