Controllable synthesis of self-assembled MoS2 hollow spheres for photocatalytic application

MoS2 hollow spheres were controllably synthesized with the assistance of surfactant [polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)] through a facile hydrothermal method. Our moderate synthetic route also yielded a large quantity MoS2 nanospheres and nanosheets by adjusting the additive concentration of PVP. The MoS2 nanosheets were synthesized without the addition of PVP. With the gradual increase of additive concentration of PVP, the MoS2 nanosheets assembled into MoS2 nanospheres and the MoS2 nanospheres further assembled into the MoS2 hollow spheres. Meanwhile, a reasonable growth mechanism related to the formation of MoS2 structures was proposed preliminarily. Moreover, the light absorption and photocatalytic properties of synthesized MoS2 structures were investigated. The results indicated that MoS2 hollow spheres exhibited excellent photocatalytic properties, which could be attributed to the unique structure feature, distribution characteristic, abundant of photoactive sites. Thus, it indicated for a huge potential for application in photocatalytic materials, which could solve the water pollution all around the world.