In situ growth of semiconducting 1T/3R-MoS2 nanosheets on spindle Mil88a as a novel heterostructure for outstanding photocatalytic performance

The construction of multi -component heterostructure of mixed -phase semiconductors and MOFs could offer a lot of potential for developing sustainable photocatalysts with outstanding photocatalytic performance. Herein, this paper explores the potential benefits of combining 1T/3R-MoS2 with exfoliated Mil88a to fabricate Mil88a@1T/ 3R-MoS2 (MMS) heterostructures hydrothermally by degrading RhB and Ciprofloxacin in an aqueous solution and utilizing it in H2 electro-generation. The XRD, SEM, and TEM analyses show that Mil88a was successfully encased in 1T/3R-MoS2 nanosheets. Moreover, the high surface area of MMS-30 (102.17 m2/g) compared to Mil88a (22.98 m2/g) and 1T/3R-MoS2 (6.8 m2/g) played a crucial role in in the photocatalytic performance. When used as photocatalyst, MMS-30 degraded 99.9 % of RhB (10 mg/L) in 70 min (rate constant approximate to 0.29794 L. mol-1.min- 1), compared to 70 % (rate constant approximate to 0.06471 L.mol-1.min- 1) for 1T/3R-MoS2 and only 40 % for Mil88a (rate constant 0.0216 L.mol-1.min- 1). The photoelectrochemical experiments show that the MMS-30 achieves an improved transient photocurrent (14.92 mu A/cm2), which is 3.05 times greater than Mil88a (4.89 mu A/cm2), demonstrating the considerable photoactivity of water reduction to hydrogen (H2). Moreover, the radical trapping experiments reveal that the superoxide radicals (center dot O2-) and hydroxyl radicals (center dot OH) are the significant contributed active radicals in RhB degradation. The enhanced removal efficiency of MMS-30 towards RhB could be ascribed to the following: (i) the exfoliated Mil88a produced by the sonication of Mil88a prior to coupling with 1T/3R-MoS2 results in unique MMS-30 heterojunction with high surface area, numerous coupling interfaces and conductive homogenous networks, (ii) the photogenerated charge carriers in 3R-MoS2 and Mil88a are strongly separated by the 1T-MoS2 phase, which acts as a bridge for collecting electrons. These encouraging results provide vital insights into the construction of enhanced photocatalysts for water remediation and H2 production.