Highly effective visible-photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and simultaneous organic pollutant degradation over an urchin-like oxygen-doped MoS₂/ZnIn₂S₄ composite

Highlights

● An urchin-like OMS/ZIS composite was fabricated by a facile solvothermal method.

● The OMS/ZIS exhibits superior photocatalytic H₂ evolution for organics degradation.

● A probable mechanism of dual-functional photocatalysis was proposed in detail.

● This work provides an inspiration for rational design of dual-functional catalysts.

Abstract

Achieving hydrogen production and simultaneous decomposition of organic pollutants through dual-functional photocatalytic reactions has received increasing attention due to the environmentally friendly and cost-effective characteristics of this approach. In this work, an urchin-like oxygen-doped MoS₂/ZnIn₂S₄ (OMS/ZIS) composite was fabricated for the first time using a simple solvothermal method. The unique microstructure with abundant active sites and fast charge transfer channels further shortened the charge migration distance and compressed carrier recombination. The obtained composite exhibited an efficient H₂ evolution reaction rate of 12.8 mmol/g/h under visible light, which was nearly times higher than pristine ZnIn₂S₄, and the apparent quantum efficiency was 14.9% (420 nm). The results of the simultaneous photocatalytic H₂ evolution and organic pollutant decomposition test were satisfactory, resulting in decomposition efficiencies of resorcinol, tetracycline, and bisphenol A that reached 41.5%, 63.5%, and 53.0% after 4 h, respectively, and the highest H₂ evolution rate was 672.7 μmol/g/h for bisphenol A. Furthermore, natural organic matter (NOM) abundantly found in actual water was adopted as an electron donor for H production under simulated sunlight irradiation, indicating the promising practicability of simultaneous hydrogen evolution and NOM decomposition. Moreover, the mechanisms of the dual-purpose photocatalytic reactions, as well as the synergistic effect between the molecular structures of the organic pollutants and the corresponding adsorption behavior on the photocatalyst surface were illustrated in detail. These obtained results may serve as an inspiration for the rational design of highly efficient, dual-functional photocatalysts in the future.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Dual-functional photocatalysts / Oxygen-doped MoS₂/ZnIn₂S₄ / H₂ evolution / Organic pollutant

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Key Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development Project of China (No. 21627809), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21777056), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (China) (Nos. ZR2020MB091 and ZR2020MB037), the Youth Innovative Talents Recruitment and Cultivation Program of Shandong Higher Education (China), and the Jinan Scientific Research Leader Workshop Project (China) (No. 2018GXRC021).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-022-1566-z and is accessible for authorized users.

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