In this study, we
observed the enhanced photocatalytic activity
of a few-layer WS2/ZnO (WZ) heterostructure toward dye
degradation and H2 production. The few-layer WS2 acted as a co-catalyst that separated photogenerated electron/hole
pairs and provided active sites for reactions, leading to the rate
of photocatalytic H2 production of WZ being 35% greater
than that over the bare ZnO nanoparticles. Moreover, vortex-stirring
accelerated the mass-transfer of the reactants, leading to the efficiency
of dye photodegradation being 3 times higher than that obtained without
high-speed stirring. We observed a similar effect for H2 production, with greater photocatalytic performance arising from
the increased mass-transfer of H2 from the catalyst surface
to the atmosphere.
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