Direct Z-scheme heterojunction impregnated MoS₂–NiO–CuO nanohybrid for efficient photocatalyst and dye-sensitized solar cell

In this present work, the preparation of ternary MoS₂–NiO–CuO nanohybrid by a facile hydrothermal process for photocatalytic and photovoltaic performance is presented. The prepared nanomaterials were confirmed by physio-chemical characterization. The nanosphere morphology was confirmed by electron microscopy techniques for the MoS₂–NiO–CuO nanohybrid. The MoS₂–NiO–CuO nanohybrid demonstrated enhanced crystal violet (CV) dye photodegradation which increased from 50 to 95% at 80 min; The degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye increased from 56 to 93% at 100 min under UV–visible light irradiation. The trapping experiment was carried out using different solvents for active species and the Z-Scheme photocatalytic mechanism was discussed in detail. Additionally, a batch series of stability experiments were carried out to determine the photostability of materials, and the results suggest that the MoS₂–NiO–CuO nanohybrid is more stable even after four continuous cycles of photocatalytic activity. The MoS₂–NiO–CuO nanohybrid delivers photoconversion efficiency (4.92%) explored efficacy is 3.8 times higher than the bare MoS₂ (1.27%). The overall results indicated that the MoS₂–NiO–CuO nanohybrid nanostructure could be a potential candidate to be used to improve photocatalytic performance and DSSC solar cell applications as well.