Construction of a binary S-scheme S-g-C3N4/Co-ZF heterojunction with enhanced spatial charge separation for sunlight-driven photocatalytic performance

Ali Bahadur; Shahid Iqbal; Mohsin Javed; Syeda Saba Hassan; Sohail Nadeem; Ali Akbar; Rami M Alzhrani; Murefah Mana Al-Anazy; Eslam B Elkaeed; Nasser S Awwad; Hala A Ibrahium; Ayesha Mohyuddin

doi:10.1039/d1ra08525e

Construction of a binary S-scheme S-g-C₃N₄/Co-ZF heterojunction with enhanced spatial charge separation for sunlight-driven photocatalytic performance

RSC Adv. 2022 Aug 16;12(36):23263-23273. doi: 10.1039/d1ra08525e.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University Wenzhou China.
² Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences (SNS), National University of Science and Technology (NUST) H-12 Islamabad 46000 Pakistan shahidiqbal.chem@sns.nust.edu.pk.
³ Department of Chemistry, School of Science, University of Management and Technology Lahore Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Faisalabad Punjab 38000 Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taif University P.O. Box 11099 Taif 21944 Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University P.O. Box 84428 Riyadh 11671 Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, AlMaarefa University Riyadh 13713 Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University P.O. Box 9004 Abha 61413 Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University P.O. Box 9004 Abha 61413 Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Department of Semi Pilot Plant, Nuclear Materials Authority P.O. Box 530 El Maadi Egypt.

Abstract

A step-scheme (S-scheme) photocatalyst made of sulfurized graphitic carbon nitride/cobalt doped zinc ferrite (S-g-C₃N₄/Co-ZF) was constructed using a hydrothermal process because the building of S-scheme systems might increase the lifespan of highly reactive charge carriers. Utilizing cutting-edge methods, the hybrid photocatalyst was evaluated by employing TEM, XPS, XRD, BET, FTIR, transient photo-response, UV-vis, EIS and ESR signals. In order to create a variety of binary nanocomposites (NCs), nanoparticles (NPs) of 6% cobalt doped zinc ferrite (Co-ZF) were mixed with S-g-C₃N₄ at various concentrations, ranging from 10 to 80 wt%. For photocatalytic dye removal, a particular binary NC constructed between S-g-C₃N₄ and Co-ZF produces a huge amount of catalytic active sites. The findings showed that loading of S-g-C₃N₄ on 6% Co-ZF NPs serves as a good heterointerface for e^-/h⁺ separation and transportation through the S-scheme S-g-C₃N₄/Co-ZF heterojunction. By boosting the hybrid system's BET surface area for the photocatalytic process, the addition of 6% Co-ZF improves the system's ability to absorb more sunlight and boosts its photocatalytic activity. The highest photo-removal effectiveness (98%), which is around 2.45 times higher than that of its competitors, was achieved by the hybrid photocatalyst system with an ideal loading of 48% Co-ZF. Furthermore, the trapping studies showed that the primary species involved in the MB aqueous photo-degradation were ˙OH^- and h⁺.