Materials Research Bulletin, Vol.107, 446-455, 2018
Fabrication of highly efficient carbon coated exfoliated tungsten disulfide nanosheets core-shell nanostructure as a promising solar-light driven photocatalyst
Exfoliated Tungsten disulfide (e-WS2) nanosheets were obtained from bulk Tungsten disulfide (WS2) in a liquid-phase ultrasonic exfoliation method using a DMF solvent. Core-shell mannered carbon coating was developed by hydrothermal process on exfoliated Tungsten disulfide (e-WS2) to enhance the efficient charge separation, specific surface area with mesoporosity and stability for chemical processes and mechanical strains. The carbon coated e-WS2 nanosheets (C@e-WS2) was performed by series of characterization techniques and explored to the photocatalytic degradation of malachite green (MG) dye by comparing with bulk WS2 and e-WS2. Among all the photocatalysts highest performance was observed for the C@e-WS2. C@e-WS2 catalyst displays more than 11 fold enhancements in the photocomposition rate of MG over bulk WS2 and nearly 8 fold improvements over e-WS2 for 90 min irradiation. In addition, for complete degradation of MG dye over the bulk WS2, e-WS2, and C@e-WS2 catalysts were observed at 150, 130, and 90 min under simulated solar light irradiation. The results obtained using core-shell mannered C@e-WS2 are stepping stone for developing cost-effective and noble metal-free catalysts for photodegradation.