Alginate-derived biomass carbon‑molybdenum disulfide heterogeneous materials: Vertically grown/uniformly dispersed molybdenum disulfide nanosheets/nanoflowers for wastewater treatment.

In order to improve the dispersion of molybdenum disulfide (MoS) and enhance the performance of MoS, two alginate-derived biomass carbon-MoS (BC-MoS) composites: CMB/CMS, were prepared by introducing BC during the synthesis of MoS by hydrothermal. The effects of different gels, times and temperatures of the synthesized BC-MoS were investigated, and the adsorption capacity for methylene blue (MB), basic fuchsin (BF) and copper ions (Cu) was tested. The results indicated that the vertical growth of MoS on the BC surface could be realized when using xero-gel, while the BC and MoS were mixed uniformly when using wet-gel. Compared with MoS, the hydrophilicity and water dispersibility of BC-MoS were greatly improved, and BC-MoS had better adsorption capacity for MB/BF/Cu (99.61/86.83/60 mg/g). The adsorption mechanism exhibits that the adsorption force of BC-MoS on MB/BF is mainly based on the electrostatic force, and the adsorption on Cu comes from the electrostatic force and the Lewis soft-soft interaction. This study dramatically enriches the application of transition metal chalcogenides and provides a meaningful reference for wastewater treatment.