Hydrothermal synthesis of Cu2FeSnS4 anisotropic nanoarchitectures: controlled morphology for enhanced photocatalytic performance

In this work, we report the hydrothermal synthesis of quaternary Cu2FeSnS4 (CFTS) semiconducting nanostructures at two different reaction durations. Synthesis durations were found to have a great impact on the properties of the CFTS nanostructures. The photocatalytic activity of CFTS nanostructures was investigated against methyl red (MR) degradation under sodium light irradiation. CFTS nanoflakes show significant degradation of the dye within 3 h of light illumination. CFTS nanoparticles with rough surfaces show the maximum photocatalytic activity, degrading almost 74% of the dye. Reusing CFTS nanoparticles in four consecutive degradation cycles led only to a marginal fall in the degradation efficiency, demonstrating their photocatalytic stability.