Facile Construction of 2D/2D ZnIn2S4-Based Bifunctional Photocatalysts for H2 Production and Simultaneous Degradation of Rhodamine B and Tetracycline.

A two-dimensional/two-dimensional (2D/2D) TiO2/ZnIn2S4 photocatalyst was reasonably proposed and constructed by a two-step oil bath-hydrothermal method. TiO2 nanosheets uniformly grown on the surface of ZnIn2S4 nanosheets and a synergetic effect between the TiO2 and ZnIn2S4 could highly contribute to improving the specific surface area and hydrophilicity of ZnIn2S4 as well as accelerating the separation and transfer of photon-generated e--h+ pairs, and thus enhancing the visible-light photocatalytic degradation and H2 evolution performance of ZnIn2S4. Rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline (TC) were simultaneously selected as the target pollutants for degradation in the work. The optimum photocatalytic RhB and TC degradation properties of TiO2/ZnIn2S4-10 wt% were almost 3.11- and 8.61-fold higher than that of pure ZnIn2S4, separately, while the highest photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate was also observed in the presence of TiO2/ZnIn2S4-10wt% and 4.28-fold higher than that of ZnIn2S4. Moreover, the possible photocatalytic mechanisms for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic degradation and H2 evolution were investigated and proposed in detail. Our research results open an easy pathway for developing efficient bifunctional photocatalysts.

Coupling ZnIn2S4 Nanosheets with MoS2 Hollow Nanospheres as Visible-Light-Active Bifunctional Photocatalysts for Enhancing H2 Evolution and RhB Degradation.

In this study, Mo-glycerate was used as a precursor to create MoS2 hollow nanospheres (HNS), which were then used for the first time to modify ZnIn2S4 nanosheets to create MoS2 HNS/ZnIn2S4 photocatalysts. The findings demonstrate that MoS2 HNS/ZnIn2S4 heterojunctions exhibited remarkably boosted photocatalytic properties and excellent reusability for both RhB degradation and H2 evolution without the use of Pt as a co-catalyst. Among the heterojunctions, the RhB degradation and H2 evolution efficiencies of the optimized MoS2 HNS/ZnIn2S4-3 wt % composite were almost 5 and 34 times higher than those of ZnIn2S4, respectively. The excellent performance of MoS2 HNS/ZnIn2S4-3 wt % might be attributed to the expansion of the visible-light response range and the accelerated separation efficiency of photo-induced carriers, according to the findings of the optical property tests. Based on the established band gap position and characterization results, a potential mechanism for appealing photocatalytic activity over MoS2 HNS/ZnIn2S4 heterojunctions was also postulated.

In situ fabrication of a novel CdS/ZnIn2S4/g-C3N4 ternary heterojunction with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance.

In this study, a novel g-C3N4-based ternary heterojunction was rationally designed and constructed by the in situ growth of ZnIn2S4 nanosheets and CdS nanoparticles onto the g-C3N4 nanosheets using a facile two-step oil-bath method. Through optimizing the proportion of ZnIn2S4 and CdS component, g-C3N4 nanosheets coupled with ZnIn2S4 nanosheets and CdS nanoparticles (denoted as CdS/ZnIn2S4/g-C3N4) exhibited obviously higher photocatalytic properties for RhB removal than the single-component and dual-component systems. Among the as-obtained ternary photocatalysts, it was found that the ternary CdS/ZnIn2S4/g-C3N4-0.2 photocatalyst displayed the optimum photocatalytic property (96%) within a short time (30 min), which was almost 27.42 and 1.17 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4 and binary ZnIn2S4/g-C3N4-0.7 composite. The excellent activity of the ternary CdS/ZnIn2S4/g-C3N4 heterostructure is assigned to the synergetic effects of CdS nanoparticles, ZnIn2S4 nanosheets and g-C3N4 nanosheets, which not only broaden the visible-light absorption range, but also improve the charge mobility and separation rate, thus boosting the visible-light-driven photocatalytic property of g-C3N4.