Diverse chalcogen bonded molybdenum dichalcogenide alloy for the efficient photo- and electro-catalytic activity to eradicate the methylene blue and Congo red dyes

In recent times, metal dichalcogenides have an attractive research significance owing to their distinguishing characteristics and capability to accommodate for wide range of applications. This work demonstrated the formation of distinctive chalcogen atoms bonded molybdenum Janus alloy structures such as SMoTe, SMoSe and SeMoTe and their ability as catalysts for oxidative and photo-decay of methylene blue and Congo red dyes. The SeMoTe nanoarray structures reduced these dyes efficiently from water by oxidation, achieving 99% and 93% effectiveness after the 36 h, respectively; and splendid degradation under 120 min UV light irradiation (97% and 99%, respectively). Experimental results confirmed robust SeMoTe catalyst activity for dye photodegradation (k = 0.027 and 0.039 min⁻¹, respectively) under UV illumination, almost double that achieved for the corresponding pure structures. The proposed novel approach to design the Janus alloy two-dimensional structure accomplishes the eco-friendly application of dye decolorization using the earth abundance materials.