Removal and degradation of mixed dye pollutants by integrated adsorption-photocatalysis technique using 2-D MoS₂/TiO₂ nanocomposite

Two-dimensional (2D) Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has become one of the most exciting areas of research for adsorbents due to its high surface area and abundant active sites. Mainly, 2D MoS₂ show promising removal of textile dye pollutants by adsorption process, but it show high affinity for anionic type of dyes, that limits its performance in mixed dye pollutants treatment. Herein, we demonstrate an integrated approach to remove mixed dye pollutants (anionic and cationic) concurrently by combining adsorption and photocatalysis process. We synthesize MoS₂/TiO₂ nanocomposites for different weight percentages 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 50 wt% of pre-synthesized flower-like MoS₂ nanoparticle by a two-step hydrothermal method. We demonstrate a new process of two-stage adsorption/photocatalysis using high wt% of MoS₂ (Stage-I) and low wt% of MoS₂ (Stage-II) nanocomposites. The proposed two-stage integrated adsorption and photocatalysis process using 50% and 2.5% of MoS₂ coated TiO₂, respectively showed complete removal of methylene blue dye ∼5 times faster than conventional single-stage (adsorption or photocatalysis) water treatment process. Furthermore, the feasibility of the proposed two-stage method in mixed dye pollutants removal (anionic and cationic) testified, which showed excellent performance even in doubling the dye pollutant concentration. This work brings a deeper insight into understanding the morphology and concentration of 2-D MoS₂ in MoS₂/TiO₂ nanocomposite in tackling mixed dye pollutants and the possibilities of applying in textile dyeing industries wastewater treatment plants.