Controllable fabrication of Bi4Ti3O12/C/Bi2S3/MoS2 heterojunction with effective suppression of Bi2S3 assisted by amorphous carbon interlayer for significantly enhanced photocatalysis

•Bi4Ti3O12/C/Bi2S3/MoS2 composites with amorphous carbon interlayer were constructed by electrospinning and hydrothermal methods.•The carbon interlayer could not only suppress the formation of Bi2S3 but also accelerate the charge separation.•The photocatalytic activity was significantly enhanced by the introduction of the carbon interlayer. Fabricating heterojunctions by combining with MoS2 is efficient to boost the visible light photocatalytic activity of Bi4Ti3O12 (BTO) but limited by the concurrent formation of Bi2S3 nanorods by in-situ ion exchange reaction. An amorphous carbon interlayer that can effectively protect the BTO fibrous structure and suppress the Bi2S3 generation was introduced to construct Bi4Ti3O12/C/Bi2S3/MoS2 (BCBM) composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity. The BCBM fibers were fabricated by electrospinning and subsequent hydrothermal growth of carbon and MoS2. Owing to the important roles of carbon interlayer to keep the integrity of the BTO fibrous structure and provide charge transfer channel, fast separation of photoinduced carriers happens on the semiconductor interface between BTO and MoS2 to improve the visible light photocatalytic activity. The optimum BCBM displays a photocatalytic efficiency of 88.4% and apparent constant of 0.0148 min−1 towards degrading RhB, which are much higher relative to the Bi4Ti3O12/Bi2S3/MoS2 composites prepared without the carbon interlayer. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the thickness of carbon interlayer is crucial for fabricating high-performance BTO heterojunctions with MoS2. The design and results in this work may broaden the horizon to construct the Bi-based semiconductor photocatalyst with high photocatalytic performance. Amorphous carbon interlayer that can effectively protect the Bi4Ti3O12 fibrous structure and suppress the Bi2S3 generation was introduced to construct Bi4Ti3O12/C/Bi2S3/MoS2 composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity. [Display omitted]