Abstract
The solar-to-fuel conversion using a photocatalyst is an ideal method to solve the energy crisis and global warming. In this contribution, photocatalytic H2 production and organic pollutant removal using g-C3N4/CuS composite was demonstrated. Well dispersed CuS nanoparticles (NPs) with a size of about 10 nm were successfully grown on the surface of g-C3N4 nanosheet via a facile hydrothermal method. The as-prepared g-C3N4/CuS nanocomposite at an optimized loading exhibited a much higher visible light photoactivity, giving up to 2.7 times and 1.5 times enhancements in comparison to pure g-C3N4 for photocatalytic H2 production and methylene orange (MO) degradation, respectively. These enhanced photocatalytic activities are attributed to the interfacial transfer of photogenerated electrons and holes between g-C3N4 and CuS, which leads to effective charge separation on both parts. That is, under the visible light irradiation, electrons in the valence band (VB) of g-C3N4 can directly transfer to the CuS NPs, which can act as an electron sink and co-catalyst to promote the separation and transfer of photo-generated electrons, thus significantly improving the photocatalytic efficiency.
Highlights
Developing and using renewable energy sources is believed to be an effective approach to solve the environmental and energy challenges facing the world in the 21st century arising from the overuse of fossil fuels and the resulting serious environmental pollution problems.[1,2,3] Solar-light driven photocatalytic photocatalysis has been regarded as an ideal “green strategy” for environmental remediation and energy conversion.[4,5] the potential success of this strategy relies largely on the development of semiconductor materials which have some key requirements, including: the material should be able to absorb visible light to maximize use of the solar spectrum, and the electrons and holes will migrate to reactive sites instead of recombining with each other
We report a visible light-driven photocatalytic H2 production and organic pollutant removal based on g-C3N4/CuS material prepared by a simple in situ growth hydrothermal method
The photodegradation performances of the as-prepared g-C3N4/ CuS photocatalysts were investigated by photodegrading methylene orange (MO) dye in aqueous solution. 10 mg of the as-prepared photocatalysts were added into 20 ml of MO (10 mg lÀ1) solution in a 50 ml quartz reactor with circulating cooling water to keep the reaction temperature constant
Summary
Developing and using renewable energy sources is believed to be an effective approach to solve the environmental and energy challenges facing the world in the 21st century arising from the overuse of fossil fuels and the resulting serious environmental pollution problems.[1,2,3] Solar-light driven photocatalytic photocatalysis has been regarded as an ideal “green strategy” for environmental remediation and energy conversion.[4,5] the potential success of this strategy relies largely on the development of semiconductor materials which have some key requirements, including: the material should be able to absorb visible light to maximize use of the solar spectrum, and the electrons and holes will migrate to reactive sites instead of recombining with each other. Exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of organic contaminants than pure Vo-ZnO and g-C3N4 under visible light irradiation.[16] Very recently, Xu et al rstly reported that the photocatalytic activity of 1,10-bis(4-carboxylatobenzyl)-4,40-bipyridinium dichloride (denoted as CBV2+) coupled with g-C3N4 through hydrogen bonds.[17] When 1 wt% CBV2+ is introduced, the hydrogen production rate of g-C3N4/CBV2+ dramatically increases up to 41.57 mmol hÀ1, exceeding 85 times the rate over bare gC3N4 (only 0.49 mmol hÀ1). We report a visible light-driven photocatalytic H2 production and organic pollutant removal based on g-C3N4/CuS material prepared by a simple in situ growth hydrothermal method. This study may open a new avenue for developing high efficiency, non-toxic, and low-cost g-C3N4-based photocatalysts for the visible-light photocatalysis
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