Synthesis of few-layer MoS₂ nanosheet-coated TiO₂ nanobelt heterostructures for enhanced photocatalytic activities

MoS₂ nanosheet-coated TiO₂ nanobelt heterostructures - referred to as TiO₂@MoS₂ - with a 3D hierarchical configuration are prepared via a hydrothermal reaction. The TiO₂ nanobelts used as a synthetic template inhibit the growth of MoS₂ crystals along the c-axis, resulting in a few-layer MoS₂ nanosheet coating on the TiO₂ nanobelts. The as-prepared TiO ₂@MoS₂ heterostructure shows a high photocatalytic hydrogen production even without the Pt co-catalyst. Importantly, the TiO ₂@MoS₂ heterostructure with 50 wt% of MoS₂ exhibits the highest hydrogen production rate of 1.6 mmol h^-1g ^-1. Moreover, such a heterostructure possesses a strong adsorption ability towards organic dyes and shows high performance in photocatalytic degradation of the dye molecules. MoS₂ nanosheet-coated TiO ₂ nanobelt heterostructures with a 3D hierarchical configuration are prepared via a hydrothermal reaction. TiO₂ nanobelts as the synthetic template inhibit the growth of MoS₂ crystals, resulting in few-layer MoS₂ nanosheets. The as-prepared TiO₂@MoS₂ heterostructure shows high photocatalytic hydrogen production, a strong adsorption ability, and a high performance in photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes.