A Novel Organic/Inorganic Dual Z-Scheme Photocatalyst with Visible-Light Response for Organic Pollutants Degradation

Abstract

The design of highly efficient organic/inorganic photocatalysts with visible-light response has attracted great attention for the removal of organic pollutants. In this work, the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) worked as the matrix polymer, while polyaniline (PANI) and Sb2S3–ZnO were used as organic/inorganic photocatalysts. The heterojunction PAN/PANI–Sb2S3–ZnO photocatalyst was prepared using electrospinning and surface ultrasound. PAN/PANI–Sb2S3–ZnO exhibited an excellent visible-light absorption intensity in the wavelength range of 400–700 nm. The maximum removal efficiencies of PAN/PANI–Sb2S3–ZnO for four organic dyes were all greater than 99%. The mechanism study showed that a dual Z-scheme could be constructed ingeniously because of the well-matched bandgaps between organic and inorganic components in the photocatalyst, which achieved efficient separation of photogenerated carriers and reserved photogenerated electrons (e−) and holes (h+) with strong redox ability. The active species •OH and •O2− played an important role in the photocatalytic process. The composite photocatalyst also had excellent stability and reusability. This work suggested a pathway for designing novel organic/inorganic composite photocatalysts with visible-light response.