Efficient recovery of gold from low concentration Au(S2O3)23-solution by fabricating Ag/MoS2 Ohmic contact

The surface decoration of precious metal particles is one of the most effective strategies for improving the photocatalytic activity of semiconductors. In this work, a MoS2-based Ohmic contact was fabricated by depositing Ag nanoparticles on the surface of MoS2 nanosheets (MoS2 NSs) to enhance the photoreduction of Au(I) from a low concentration Au(S2O3)23- solution. After the fabrication of Ohmic contact, more efficient interface charge transfer can be achieved under the drive of built-in electric field. As a result, the photogenerated singlet excitons in MoS2 NSs are readily dissociated into free charges with the electrons drifting to Ag NPs, leading to a higher electron concentration on the surface of Ag/MoS2 NSs. The gold recovery of Ag/MoS2 NSs-4.15% reaches up to 96.67% for the low concentration Au(S2O3)23- solution, which is about 3.9 times higher than that of pristine MoS2 NSs (24.82%). The results of this work are encouraging for further development in the surface science of photocatalysis and demonstrate a pathway for efficient gold recovery via photoreduction.