Abstract Photocatalysis is one of the green synthetic remediation methods widely explored in water remediation to remove estrogenic pollutants in water systems. However, photocatalysts suffer from wide band gaps and fast charge recombination, which compromise their efficiency in photocatalytic applications. Therefore, different methods can be employed to mitigate these limitations, such as doping and the creation of heterostructures. Herein, a novel MoS 2 /WO 3 @Ti 3 C 2 T X S-scheme ternary composite was fabricated through an ultrasonication method. The incorporation of Ti 3 C 2 Tx MXene, which exhibits high electrical conductivity, facilitates efficient charge transfer kinetics at the interface. The crystalline structures of WO 3 and MoS 2 were confirmed by X-ray spectroscopy, which also provided insights into crystallite size and microstrain. The ternary composites exhibited a red shift in the light absorption spectrum, with band gap energies reaching as low as 1.52 eV in contrast to 1.68 eV for MoS 2 and 2.60 eV for WO 3 . Photoluminescence (PL) and electron impedance spectroscopy analysis revealed that the ternary composite (5% MWT) enables effective charge separation alongside reduced charge transfer resistance. The work functions for MoS 2 (6.95 eV), WO 3 (7.45 eV), and Ti 3 C 2 T x (8.10 eV) corroborated that an internal electric field established itself at the junction of the semiconductor materials. Variations within binding energies caused the transfer of electrons away from MoS 2 toward WO 3 . X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data substantiated the existence of an S-scheme heterostructure as evidence of the transfer. This work demonstrates that engineering ternary S-scheme MoS 2 /WO 3 @Ti 3 C 2 Tx MXene nanocomposites can be a promising strategy for sustainable photocatalytic and energy applications. Graphical abstract
Lele et al. (Wed,) studied this question.