A Novel <i>In Situ</i> Biosynthesized Bacterial Cellulose/MoS<sub>2</sub>/TiO<sub>2</sub> Composite Film for Efficient Removal of Dyes and Pathogenic Bacteria from Industrial Wastewater under Sunlight Illumination
Siyu Liu, Hanghang Lou, Jiaqi Luo, Dafaallah Albashir, Ying Shi, Qihe Chen
Abstract
Developing multifunctional water purification materials is of great significance for the elimination of organic pollutants and bacterial pathogens in industrial wastewater. Herein, we report a novel green material, bacterial cellulose/molybdenum disulfide/titanium oxide (BC/MoS 2 /TiO 2 ) composite film, through one-step in situ biosynthesis, and its application in industrial wastewater treatment. The systematic physicochemical characterization of BC/MoS 2 /TiO 2 demonstrated that MoS 2 and TiO 2 were effectively incorporated into the BC porous network matrix. Meanwhile, BC/MoS 2 /TiO 2 was absorbed in the UV, visible, and NIR regions with a bandgap of 1.93 eV, indicating that it can serve as a sunlight-excited photocatalyst. Further photocatalytic studies revealed that the synergistic effect of MoS 2 and TiO 2 enabled BC/MoS 2 /TiO 2 to generate large amounts of •OH and O 2 •–, and the potential photocatalytic mechanism was investigated. Additionally, BC/MoS 2 /TiO 2 exhibited higher photodegradation efficiencies against methylene blue ( k = 0.01963 min –1 ) and rhodamine B ( k = 0.01844 min –1 ), as well as better photodynamic and photothermal antibacterial performances against Staphylococcus aureus (99.9929%) and Escherichia coli (99.8935%) than BC/MoS 2 or BC/TiO 2 alone. BC/MoS 2 /TiO 2 showed great reusability and maintained its effectiveness after four cycles. Overall, these results revealed that the biosynthesized BC/MoS 2 /TiO 2 achieved favorable photodegradation of organic dye pollutants via a type I photodynamic pathway under sunlight illumination and synergistic photothermal and photodynamic antimicrobial activity, thus suggesting that this mild, green, and sustainable composite is a promising material for efficient antibacterial and degradation of industrial wastewater constituents.