Construction of ternary heterojunction AgI/C-MoS2 nanosheets with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic property and self-cleaning performance

Carbon-molybdenum disulfide (C-MoS2) ultrathin nanosheets were prepared by a hydrothermal process, and then AgI/C-MoS2 were synthesized via an in-situ deposition method. This ternary heterojunction composite exhibited better photocatalytic activity compared with those of one-component (pristine MoS2) and bicomponent (AgI/MoS2 and C-MoS2) materials for the degradation of organic dyes under the visible-light irradiation. In particular, by comparing with AgI/MoS2, the significant role of conductive amorphous carbon in AgI/C-MoS2 in enhancing the charge transfer during the photocatalytic degradation of dyes was first confirmed by photocurrent response and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). A possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed based on the capture experiment results. Furthermore, a straightforward and interesting way had been applied to test the recycled/newly-prepared AgI/C-MoS2 composite for revealing its distinctive self-cleaning performance and recyclability characteristic besides its good photocatalytic activity. This work could provide a reference for the design of other new ternary heterojunction composite materials with special structures and properties.