Accelerated separation of photogenerated charge carriers and enhanced photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4 by Bi2S3 nanoparticles

Employing photothermal conversion to improve the photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4 is rarely re-Received 1 July 2019 ported previously. Herein, different ratios of g-C3N4/Bi2S3 heterojunction materials are synthesized Accepted 12 July 2019 by a facile ultrasonic method. Advanced characterizations such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier trans-Published 5 February 2020 form infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy are employed to analyze the morphology and structure of the prepared materials. Compared with sole counterparts, the heterojunction materials CN-BiS-2 exhibit significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance, which is 2.05-fold as g-C3N4 and 4.42-fold as Bi2S3. A possible degradation pathway of methylene blue (MB) was proposed. Based on the photoproduced high-energy electrons and photothermal effect of Bi2S3, the transfer and separation of electron-hole pairs are greatly enhanced and more active species are produced. In addition, the relatively high utilization efficiency of solar energy has synergistic effect for the better photocatalytic performance. (C) 2020, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.