Synthesis of MnS from Single- and Multi-Source Precursors for Photocatalytic and Battery Applications

Abstract

Nanomaterials have been shown to possess exclusive properties in heterogeneous catalysis as evidenced by studies dedicated to the synthesis of transition-metal-containing nanomaterials. However, the series of nanomaterials which have been synthesized are mostly oxides. A ligand, 1-(2-chloro-4-nitrophenyl)-3,3-chlorobenzoyl (Tu), has been created through which MnS nanoparticles (NPs) and nanosheets (NSs) have been successfully synthesized, initially from a single-source precursor (SS) and then from multi-source precursors, respectively. The main objective of this article was to identify the differences in the morphologies of the materials synthesized from the two different sources, with photodegradation and battery applications performed just with MnS NPs (synthesized by the SS method). A preliminary study has been carried out on the photocatalytic properties and battery applications of the recently synthesized MnS employing the SS method. MnS NPs demonstrated higher activity than their bulk sheet for the photocatalytic degradation of four different dyes, methyl violet, methylene green, methylene blue, and rhodamine B, under visible-light irradiation. More significantly, the preparation method in the present work might be applied to other metal chalcogenide nanomaterials for various new applications. More notably, battery applications have been evaluated for MnS NPs (synthesized by the SS method) by testing their electrochemical discharge/charge at voltage limits of − 0.2 to 3.2 V versus Li/Li+.