Synthesis of Few-Layer MoS₂ Nanosheet-Coated TiO₂ Nanobelt Heterostructures for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activities

MoS₂ nanosheet-coated TiO₂ nanobelt heterostructures—referred to as TiO2@MoS₂—with a 3D hierarchical configuration are prepared via a hydrothermal reaction. The TiO₂ nanobelts used as a synthetic template inhibit the growth of MoS₂ crystals along the c-axis, resulting in a few-layer MoS₂ nanosheet coating on the TiO₂ nanobelts. The as-prepared TiO₂@MoS₂ heterostructure shows a high photocatalytic hydrogen production even without the Pt co-catalyst. Importantly, the TiO₂@MoS₂ heterostructure with 50 wt% of MoS₂ exhibits the highest hydrogen production rate of 1.6 mmol h^-1g^-1. Moreover, such a heterostructure possesses a strong adsorption ability towards organic dyes and shows high performance in photocatalytic degradation of the dye molecules.