The role of sodium dodecyl sulfate mediated hydrothermal synthesis of MoS2 nanosheets for photocatalytic dye degradation and dye-sensitized solar cell application

The novel properties and exciting behavior of two-dimensional nanosheet-based materials have piqued the interest of research all over the world. In this study, bulk molybdenum disulfide (bulk MoS2) and sodium dodecyl sulfate-mediated molybdenum disulfide nanosheets (MoS2-SDS NS) were synthesized via a facile sonication and hydrothermal process. The findings from the characterization revealed that the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant reduces the crystal phase and changes the structural morphology of bulk MoS2. Furthermore, the photocatalytic and photovoltaic performance of bulk MoS2 and MoS2-SDS NS were also investigated. The results show that by using methylene blue dye, the photocatalytic efficiency increased from 56.30% to 91.84% at 150 min under UV–Visible light irradiation, and the photo-conversion efficiency (PEC (%)) of the dye-sensitized solar cell increased from 1.47% to 3.81% for bulk MoS2 and MoS2-SDS NS, respectively. Finally, we discussed in-depth the effect of SDS surfactants on MoS2, which can improve their photovoltaic and photocatalytic performance. [Display omitted] •MoS2-SDS nanosheets were synthesized via a facile sonication and hydrothermal method from bulk MoS2.•MoS2 nanosheet (NS) formation via SDS surfactant were observed.•The MoS2-SDS NS enhanced methyl blue dye degradation increased from 56.30% to 91.84% at 150 min under UV–Visible light irradiation.•MoS2-SDS NS explored PEC (%) is 2.5 times higher than the bulk MoS2 sample.•Overall result suggested that SDS surfactant induces nanosheet formation and where played predominant role in MoS2 to enhance the photoctalytic and solar cell applications”.