A universal in situ lattice sulfidation synthesis method of metal sulfides/TiO2 heterostructures and its application in photocatalytic NO removal

It is a challenge to synthesize well-defined metal sulfides/TiO2 (MSx/TiO2) heterostructures because of the lattice mismatch between MSx and TiO2. In this work, an in situ lattice sulfidation synthesis method of MSx/TiO2 was developed. Under hydrothermal conditions, metal atoms in metal-doped TiO2 (MTiO2) reacted with S species to generate MSx in situ on TiO2 surface. This method is a universal preparation method and 8 kinds of MSx/TiO2 heterostructures (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo and Cd) were synthesized. And taking CdS/TiO2 as an example due to its highest photocatalytic activity, we can conclude that CdS grew tightly and dispersed uniformly on TiO2 surface. The combination with CdS improved the photocatalytic NO removal ratio of TiO2 greatly (>510 nm, from 2% to 34%; >400 nm, from 10% to 39%), which was high compared with other works.

Automated summary

A universal method for synthesizing well-defined metal sulfides/TiO2 heterostructures was developed by in situ lattice sulfidation synthesis. Under hydrothermal conditions, metal atoms in metal-doped TiO2 reacted with S species to generate metal sulfides in situ on TiO2 surface. Eight kinds of MSx/TiO2 heterostructures were successfully synthesized. Taking CdS/TiO2 as an example, CdS grew tightly and dispersed uniformly on TiO2 surface. The combination with CdS greatly improved the photocatalytic NO removal ratio of TiO2, which was high compared with other works.