When MoS2 meets TiO2: facile synthesis strategies, hybrid nanostructures, synergistic properties, and photocatalytic applications

Abstract

As one of the important photocatalysts for solving the energy crisis and environmental pollution, semiconductor titanium dioxide (TiO₂) has attracted widespread attention and been widely studied due to its advantages, including pollution-free nature, nontoxicity, and high photoelectric conversion efficiency. It has essential applications in the photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes and clean production of hydrogen. However, due to the wide bandgap of TiO₂ and rapid photoinduced electron–hole recombination, the light utilization rate is under expectation. It was demonstrated that molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) and TiO₂ nanocomposites with excellent photocatalytic performance showed pronounced catalytic synergistic effects. This endows TiO₂/MoS₂-based nanocomposites with much better performance, expanding their application prospects in the fields of photocatalysis and rechargeable lithium/sodium-ion batteries. In this work, several typical preparation methods of TiO₂/MoS₂ hybrid materials are introduced in detail, including hydrothermal methods, atomic layer deposition methods and mechanochemical synthesis methods. The enhancement mechanisms of photocatalysts are also discussed. In addition, this work summarizes the new design schemes developed in recent years and provides various comprehensive construction strategies. Finally, the applications of TiO₂/MoS₂ composites in solar fuels, ion batteries, degradation of organic molecules, reduction of CO₂ and multifunctional optical sensors are presented.