Dunhua Hong

There have been many articles on the degradation of pollutants by binary and ternary nanocomposites in the field of photocatalysis. However, there has been no research comparing the photocatalytic performance of Rhodamine B (Rh B) between (M(M=Pt, Ag and Au)-TiO₂)@MoS₂ nanocomposites and binary nanocomposites. To this end, we prepared and studied (M(M=Pt, Ag and Au)-TiO₂)@MoS₂ nanocomposites and compared their photocatalytic degradation efficiency with binary composites and parent materials for Rhodamine B. We concluded that the best ternary polymer nanocomposite for degrading Rhodamine B is (Pt(5 wt%)-TiO₂(15 wt%))@MoS₂. In this work, a series of MoS₂, TiO₂@MoS₂, and (M(M=Pt, Ag and Au)-TiO₂)@MoS₂ nanocomposites with various compositions were synthesized by the hydrothermal and deposition–precipitation methods, and their photocatalytic characteristics were studied in depth using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) photoluminescence spectra (PL), FTIR spectra, UV–Vis DRS spectra, and BET analyzer. The results confirmed that TiO₂ and M(Pt, Ag and Au) nanoparticles (NPs) were evenly distributed on MoS₂ nanosheets (NSs) to form (M(M=Pt, Ag and Au)-TiO₂)@MoS₂ nanocomposite heterojunction. The UV–Vis absorption spectrum test results indicated that (Pt(5 wt%)-TiO₂(15 wt%))@MoS₂ ternary heterojunction nanocomposites exhibited the highest photocatalysis activity, with the maximum value of 99.0% compared to 93% for TiO₂(15 wt%)@MoS₂, 96.5% for (Ag(5 wt%)-TiO₂(15 wt%))@MoS₂, and 97.8% for (Au(5 wt%)-TiO₂(15 wt%))@MoS₂ within 9 min. The advanced structure of (Pt-TiO₂)@MoS₂ improved both light harvesting and electron transfer in the photocatalytic composites, contributing to remarkable catalytic effectiveness and extended durability for the photodegradation of Rhodamine B (Rh B). In-depth discussions of the potential growth and photocatalytic mechanism, which will help improve the energy and environmental fields, are included.