Sulfonated polyindole coated magnetic zincoxysulfide (Ni@ZnO0.6S0.4@SPID) core/shell nanocatalyst for simultaneous photocatalytic H2 production and BPA degradation

Abstract

Photocatalyst composed of core/shell magnetic zincoxysulfide nanocomposite coated with sulfonated polyindole (Ni@ZnO0.6S0.4/SPID) has been prepared and used for simultaneous photocatalytic H2 production and Bisphenol A (BPA) degradation. XRD, FE-SEM, EDX, BET surface area, UV-vis DRS and VSM were used to characterize the synthesized nanocomposites. The photocatalytic performance was evaluated using batch reactor under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic activity of Ni@ZnO0.6S0.4/SPID nanocomposite was revealed to exceed that of Ni@ZnO0.6S0.4 nanocomposite due to the heterojunctions between SPID and Ni@ZnO0.6S0.4 species. The results exhibited that the effect of BPA initial concentration was found to be effectual on the improvement of H2 yield through the simultaneous photocatalytic H2 production and BPA degradation process, giving maximum of 130% increase of H2 production. The Ni@ZnO0.6S0.4/SPID nanocomposites showed good stability after 5 successive reaction cycles.