A General Strategy toward Carbon Cloth-Based Hierarchical Films Constructed by Porous Nanosheets for Superior Photocatalytic Activity

Linlin Li; Shengjie Peng; Na Wang; Madhavi Srinivasan; Subodh G Mhaisalkar; Qingyu Yan; Seeram Ramakrishna

doi:10.1002/smll.201403582

A General Strategy toward Carbon Cloth-Based Hierarchical Films Constructed by Porous Nanosheets for Superior Photocatalytic Activity

Small. 2015 May;11(20):2429-36. doi: 10.1002/smll.201403582. Epub 2015 Jan 21.

Authors

Linlin Li¹, Shengjie Peng^{1

2}, Na Wang³, Madhavi Srinivasan¹, Subodh G Mhaisalkar¹, Qingyu Yan¹, Seeram Ramakrishna²

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore.
² Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 117576, Singapore.
³ Tianjin Center of Geological Survey, Tianjin, 300171, China.

PMID: 25604389
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201403582

Abstract

Herein, the controlled synthesis of 3D hierarchical films on carbon cloth (CC) in a high yield through a hydrothermal process and their high photocatalytic properties are reported. As representative examples, the obtained ZnIn2 S4 /CdIn2 S4 composites are composed of porous nanosheets. During the hydrothermal process, l-cysteine plays an important dual role as a coordinating agent and sulfur source, which is in favor of adjusting stoichiometry of the final product and forming the nanoporous structure. This facile method can be extended to synthesize other sulfides and oxides on CC substrates, such as CoIn2 S4 , MnIn2 S4 , FeIn2 S4 , SnS2 , and Bi2 WO6 . When evaluated the photocatalytic activity, the optimized ZnIn2 S4 /CdIn2 S4 (20%)-CC with an easily recycling feature shows higher photocatalytic degradation activity for methylene blue (MB) than ZnIn2 S4 -CC, CdIn2 S4 -CC, and ZnIn2 S4 /CdIn2 S4 (20%) powder. More importantly, ZnIn2 S4 /CdIn2 S4 (20%)-CC also exhibits superior H2 production activity. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to the unique porous sheet-like structure and the formation of heterojunction. Our results could provide a promising way to develop high-performance photocatalytic films, which makes it possible to be used in real devices.

Keywords: carbon cloth; hydrothermal; nanosheets; photocatalysis; porous structures; ternary sulfides.