  The fabrication of heterogeneous photocatalysts has received increasing
research interest due to their potential applications for the degradation of
organic pollutants in wastewater and the evolution of carbon-free hydrogen fuel
via water splitting. Here, we report the photodegradation and photocatalytic
hydrogen generation abilities of nanostructured LaFeO$_{3}$-MoS$_{2}$
photocatalyst synthesized by facile hydrothermal technique. Prior to conducting
photocatalytic experiments, structural, morphological, and optical properties
of the nanocomposite were extensively investigated using X-ray diffraction
analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and UV-visible
spectroscopy, respectively. Nanostructured LaFeO$_{3}$-MoS$_{2}$ photodegraded
96% of rhodamine B dye within only 150 minutes which is considerably higher
than that of LaFeO$_{3}$ and commercial Degussa P25 titania nanoparticles. The
LaFeO$_{3}$-MoS$_{2}$ nanocomposite also exhibited significantly enhanced
photocatalytic efficiency in the decomposition of a colorless probe pollutant,
ciprofloxacin eliminating the possibility of the dye-sensitization effect.
Moreover, LaFeO$_{3}$-MoS$_{2}$ demonstrated superior photocatalytic activity
towards solar hydrogen evolution via water splitting. Considering the band
structures and contribution of reactive species, a direct Z-scheme
photocatalytic mechanism is proposed to rationalize the superior photocatalytic
behavior of LaFeO$_{3}$-MoS$_{2}$ nanocomposite.
