Hydrothermal synthesis of MoS2 with controllable morphologies and its adsorption properties for bisphenol A

The effect of preparation conditions (molar ratio of S/Mo, hydrothermal temperature and time) on the morphologies of MoS2 was investigated. The as-synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectra and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller's (BET) surface area measurement. Results showed that the three kinds of morphologies of MoS2 were obtained. Morphologies varied gradually from the coral-like aggregated particles to flower-like spheres to wrapped nano-sheet structure with increasing hydrothermal temperature and time. It is meaningful for specific morphology demand in different fields. Moreover, the prepared materials were used as tentative adsorbents for the removal of bisphenol A (BPA) as a representative of endocrine disruptors. The results showed that the prepared MoS2 materials with wrapped nano-sheet structure had good adsorption capacity (39.03 mg/g) and fast adsorption rate (0.0053 g/(mg/min). The adsorption process was thermodynamically exothermic and spontaneous. The study indicated that electrostatic interaction is strong and π-π interaction between BPA and the MoS2 materials play an important role for BPA adsorption.