Subsequently, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and zeta potential were used to further explore the adsorption mechanism. As depicted in
Fig. 2c and Table S4 (Supporting information), the a-MoS
x demonstrates larger surface area, pore volume and average pore size than those of 1T/2H MoS
2, which may be attributed to the larger interlayer spacing in a-MoS
x. It should be noted that the value of pore size, pore volume and specific surface area all decrease to some extent after adsorbing TC molecule on a-MoS
x, suggesting that pore filling is one of the adsorption mechanisms [
25].
Fig. 2d and Table S5 (Supporting information) show the FTIR spectra of 1T/2H MoS
2, a-MoS
x and TC adsorbed a-MoS
x (TC-a-MoS
x). It can be obviously observed that the positions of O—H, Mo=O and S-H bonds of a-MoS
x change after adsorption of TC, resulting from the formation of hydrogen bonding between a-MoS
x and TC [
25,
26]. In addition, the peaks of cumulated double bond, C=O and Mo-S are also shifted to some extent, suggesting that the presence of
π-π stacking interaction [
26,
27]. Furthermore, the chemical valences of a-MoS
x and TC-a-MoS
x were investigated by XPS analysis and the related parameters were shown in Table S6 (Supporting information). In the full XPS spectra (Fig. S9a in Supporting information), the higher intensity of C 1s and O 1s were observed in TC-a-MoS
x, demonstrating that TC were successfully adsorbed on a-MoS
x [
18]. In Mo 3d XPS spectrum (
Fig. 2e), the area percentage of S 2s increase from 13.2% to 14.7% and the positions shift as well after loading of TC, suggesting that there may be interactions between S atoms and TC molecules [
18]. Notably, in S 2p spectrum, the positions and area percentages of bridging sulfur S
22− (bri-S
22−)/apical sulfur S
2− (api-S
2−) and terminal sulfur S
22− (ter-S
22−)/unsaturated S
2− (uns-S
2−) also change after TC adsorption (
Fig. 2f), demonstrating that the existence of
π-π stacking interactions between the benzene ring of TC molecule and the outer S atoms of a-MoS
x [
28]. Moreover, in C 1s spectrum (Fig. S9b in Supporting information), the peak position of C=O and C—O shift slightly after TC adsorption, illustrating that oxygen-containing groups are involved in the adsorption process between TC and a-MoS
x [
28]. In O 1s spectrum (Fig. S9c in Supporting information), the peaks of C-O, H-O and Mo-O shift with amplitudes of 0.17, 0.33 and 0.12 eV and all of their area percentages also change, which may be attributed to the existence of hydrogen bonding between oxygen-containing groups in a-MoS
x and TC molecules [
28]. Solution pH was a critical environmental factor to alter the species distribution of TC and surface charging state of adsorbent. As can be seen in
Fig. 2g and Fig. S10 (Supporting information), there is almost no electrostatic interaction occurring between the negatively charged forms of a-MoS
x and TC at different pH values, suggesting that non-electrostatic interactions is the dominant driving force (the detailed information in Text S7 in Supporting information) [
28]. DFT calculations were used to verify the adsorption capacity of TC on a-MoS
x (
Fig. 2h). The adsorption energy of TC on a-MoS
x (−1.09 eV) is 1.91 times stronger than that on 1T/2H MoS
2 surface (−0.57 eV), demonstrating that the interaction forces and interlayer spacing presented in a-MoS
x are more conducive to the adsorption of TC. Above all, the superior adsorption capacity of a-MoS
x for TC depends on pore filling,
π-π interaction, hydrogen bonding and high adsorption energy, providing strong driving forces for effective adsorption of TC.