α-Fe2O3/MoS2 heterostructured nanomaterial for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance under sunlight irradiation

In this work, α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles integrated MoS 2 nanocomposites have been prepared by a hydrothermal method. Structural phase, optical and morphological analysis of the prepared nanocomposites are examined through XRD, UV–Visible spectroscopy, and HRSEM techniques, respectively. The reduction of charge recombination rate of nanocomposites upon MoS 2 addition is confirmed through PL analysis. Besides, the MoS 2 addition is found to reduce the bandgap of the nanocomposite up to 2.15 eV as calculated from the KM Function plot. Photocatalytic studies showed that over 99% of degradation rhodamine B dye is achieved within 50 min by 15% MoS 2 /α-Fe 2 O 3 nanocomposite, which is found to be a significant increment as compared to the bare α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles.