Facile Construction of 2D/2D ZnIn2S4-Based Bifunctional Photocatalysts for H2 Production and Simultaneous Degradation of Rhodamine B and Tetracycline

Yue Chen; Liezhen Zhu; Youliang Shen; Jing Liu; Jiangbo Xi; Lingfang Qiu; Xun Xu; Dandan Men; Ping Li; Shuwang Duo

doi:10.3390/nano13162315

Facile Construction of 2D/2D ZnIn₂S₄-Based Bifunctional Photocatalysts for H₂ Production and Simultaneous Degradation of Rhodamine B and Tetracycline

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2023 Aug 12;13(16):2315. doi: 10.3390/nano13162315.

Authors

Yue Chen¹, Liezhen Zhu¹, Youliang Shen¹, Jing Liu¹, Jiangbo Xi², Lingfang Qiu¹, Xun Xu¹, Dandan Men¹, Ping Li¹, Shuwang Duo¹

Affiliations

¹ Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Surface Engineering, School of Materials and Energy, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang 330013, China.
² Key Laboratory of Novel Biomass-Based Environmental and Energy Materials in Petroleum and Chemical Industry, Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Engineering Process of Ministry of Education, Engineering Research Center of Phosphorus Resources Development and Utilization of Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Novel Reactor and Green Chemical Technology, School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430073, China.

Abstract

A two-dimensional/two-dimensional (2D/2D) TiO₂/ZnIn₂S₄ photocatalyst was reasonably proposed and constructed by a two-step oil bath-hydrothermal method. TiO₂ nanosheets uniformly grown on the surface of ZnIn₂S₄ nanosheets and a synergetic effect between the TiO₂ and ZnIn₂S₄ could highly contribute to improving the specific surface area and hydrophilicity of ZnIn₂S₄ as well as accelerating the separation and transfer of photon-generated e^--h⁺ pairs, and thus enhancing the visible-light photocatalytic degradation and H₂ evolution performance of ZnIn₂S₄. Rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline (TC) were simultaneously selected as the target pollutants for degradation in the work. The optimum photocatalytic RhB and TC degradation properties of TiO₂/ZnIn₂S₄-10 wt% were almost 3.11- and 8.61-fold higher than that of pure ZnIn₂S₄, separately, while the highest photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate was also observed in the presence of TiO₂/ZnIn₂S₄-10wt% and 4.28-fold higher than that of ZnIn₂S₄. Moreover, the possible photocatalytic mechanisms for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic degradation and H₂ evolution were investigated and proposed in detail. Our research results open an easy pathway for developing efficient bifunctional photocatalysts.

Keywords: 2D/2D heterostructures; TiO2/ZnIn2S4; bifunctional photocatalysts; degradation; hydrogen evolution.

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41763020) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (grant numbers 20212BAB204020, 20212BAB204018, and 20202BABL214040).