Universal substrate growth of Ag-modified ReS2 as visible-light-driven photocatalyst for highly efficient water disinfection

Abstract Developing highly-efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst for water disinfection is an attractive strategy to address the current shortage of safe drinking water and environmental remediation. Since the low dependence on growth substrate and the narrow bandgap nature made ReS2 one of the best two-dimensional (2D) materials for photocatalytic sterilization. Herein, we fabricated Ag/ReS2 composite, a 0D/2D heterostructure, which can be grown on three universal substrates through a facile chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and thermal evaporation process. Benefiting from the vertical growth of ReS2 nanosheets and the hybrid effect from Ag and ReS2, the visible-light response of Ag/ReS2 can be greatly enhanced, exhibiting an excellent photocatalytic antibacterial efficiency towards Escherichia coli (E. coli) after 30 min of visible-light exposure, providing a promising environmentally friendly alternative method for water disinfection. Moreover, the universal substrate growth and good stability also endow the photocatalyst with potential applicability in various fields.