Synergetic effect of CuS@ZnS nanostructures on photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant under visible light irradiation

S. Harish, J. Archana, M. Navaneethan, S. Ponnusamy, Ajay Singh, Vinay Gupta, D. K. Aswal, H. Ikeda, Y. Hayakawa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ultrafast visible light active CuS/ZnS nanostructured photocatalysts were synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The effect of the CuS concentration on the morphological, structural and optical properties of ZnS nanostructures were investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated the formation of CuS/ZnS phases with good crystallinity. The presence of ZnS on CuS was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, elemental mapping, scanning electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy analyses. CuS/ZnS nanocomposites efficiently decomposed methylene blue (MB) upon irradiation with visible light. The degradation time was 3 times faster than that of bare ZnS and CuS. The scavenger analysis results revealed that photogenerated superoxide (O2-) radicals were the main reactive species for the degradation of MB. The maximum degradation efficiency of 95.51% was observed within 5 min for samples of 0.050 M CuS/ZnS composites. The obtained results suggested that the enhanced photocatalytic activity was due to the formation of CuS/ZnS heterojunctions which led to the efficient separation of the photoinduced carriers.

Original languageBritish English
Pages (from-to)34366-34375
Number of pages10
JournalRSC Advances
Volume7
Issue number55
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017

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