Fabrication of highly porous N/S doped carbon embedded with ZnS as highly efficient photocatalyst for degradation of bisphenol

Abstract

In the present study, a novel nanocomposite has been successfully fabricated that contain nitrogen and sulphur doped porous carbon and ZnS nanoparticles. The fabricated nanocomposite has been used as a photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol-A (BPA) under visible light. The prepared nanocomposite was characterized using FT-IR, XRD, Raman, SEM, TEM, SAED, BET and XPS. The results revealed that the fabricated nanocomposite (ZnS/NSDC) exhibited highly porosity due to large surface area 642.24 cm2/g and promising pore volumes. ZnS/NSDC nanocomposite was showed excellent photocatalytic performance for BPA degradation. During the photocatalytic degradation of BPA, several intermediate products with the molecular mass including m/z 151, m/z 133, and m/z 137 were observed using LC-MS analyses. The experimental outcomes are supported by theoretical calculations via, density functional theory (DFT) and elucidate the photocatalytic degradation mechanism of BPA. These efforts suggest that the fabricated ZnS/NSDC nanocomposite exhibits excellent properties to severe threat to environment and can be used as a reusable photocatalyst for the degradation of BPA in aqueous solution.