Probing effective charge migration and highly improved photocatalytic activity on Polyaniline/Zn3In2S6 nano-flower under long wavelength light

Construction of visible light-response photocatalyst with enhanced photoelectric properties is considered to be an effective method for treating environmental pollutants under visible light irradiation. Herein, a novel PANI/Zn3In2S6 composite photocatalyst was successfully synthesized by the method of electrostatic adsorption. The 0.05% Polyaniline/Zn3In2S6 (PANI/Zn3In2S6) demonstrates superior photocatalytic Cr(VI) reduction and 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) degradation performance under visible light (lambda > 420 nm), which is 3.76 and 3.27 times to that of Zn3In2S6, respectively. The improvement of photocatalytic performance is attributed to the modification the Zn3In2S6 by PANI to maximize the carrier migration rate, light absorption intensity and cycle stability of the pure ZZn(3)In(2)S(6), so as to obtain efficient and stable photocatalytic performance. The tests of mass spectrometry analysis (MS) was conducted to detect intermediate products during MBT degradation, and a possible photodegradation pathway was proposed. Moreover, under the long-wavelength sunlight (lambda > 550 nm), it still shows improved photoreduction of Cr(VI) performance, the reaction rate constant is 2.18 times that of Zn3In2S6. Finally, by the band structure and capture experiments, a possible reaction mechanism over PANI/Zn3In2S6 was proposed. This work provides a way to deal with heavy metal ion pollution in a long wavelength condition.

Automated summary

The study introduces a novel PANI/Zn3In2S6 composite photocatalyst with superior photocatalytic performance under visible light, demonstrating efficient treatment of environmental pollutants.