Hydrothermal green synthesis of MoS2nanosheets for pollution abatement and antifungal applications

In this study, we report a green synthesis of MoS2nanosheets (NSs) using a facile hydrothermal technique in the presence ofl-cysteine.l-Cysteine can serve as a greener source of sulfur as well as a capping agent to help the growth of MoS2nanosheets. The prepared materials were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), electron transmission microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS), and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) analysis. The results showed that MoS2NSs are of high crystallinity with a lattice spacing of 0.61 nm. The optical bandgap of MoS2NSs nanosheets prepared usingl-cysteine as a source of sulfur was found to be 1.79 eV. The photocatalytic degradation of MoS2NSs towards methylene orange (MO) and rhodamine blue (RB) dyes under sunlight was found to be promising for practical applications. The fast kinetics of degradation of MO and RhB was observed over a wide range of pH range. Moreover, MoS2NSs showed excellent antifungal activities againstTrichophyton mentagrophytesandPenicillium chrysogenumfungus.