A facile one pot synthetic approach for C₃N₄–ZnS composite interfaces as heterojunctions for sunlight-induced multifunctional photocatalytic applications

Abstract

Herein, we report a facile one pot synthetic protocol for the creation of C3N4–ZnS composite interfaces by the co-pyrolysis of a precursor mix containing zinc nitrate, melamine, and thiourea at 550 °C in air.

One-step synthesis of graphitic-C 3 N 4 /ZnS composites for enhanced supercapacitor performance

“…The g-C 3 N 4 carbon materials with excellent mechanical strength and thermal conductivity show good performance in many fields such as wastewater detoxification [17] , H 2 production [18] , fuel cells [19] , and supercapacitors [20] . To the best of our knowledge, g-C 3 N 4 /ZnS composites have been widely investigated in the photocatalytic field [21][22][23] . However, no reports about the supercapacitor performance studies of g-C 3 N 4 /ZnS composites have been recorded.…”

Experimental Investigation with DFT Analysis Towards a Promising Recyclable Photocatalyst from g‐C3N4/ZnS Nanocomposite

“…In recent years, there has been intense research focus to develop highly-efficient, nanostructured based photocatalytic compound aiming to reduce the environmental pollution, especially in aqueous media. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] However, the photocatalyst based on a single compound may be limited in performance because of higher band gap and higher recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers. On the other hand, a composite based on two or more materials with matched energy bandgap, can promote the efficient charge transport to enhance the photocatalytic activity.…”

“…Apart from the possible synergistic effect in the composite, the presence of the interface between two materials prohibits the recombination of photo induced charge carriers and reduces the charge diffusion. To date, various kinds of semiconductor nanocomposites based on metallic oxides, mostly, TiO 2 , [3,4] ZnO, [5,6] ZnTiO 3 , [7] Fe 3 O 4 [8] and sulfides like, MoS 2 , [9,10] ZnS, [11][12][13][14] and CdS [15,16] have been studied and used as catalysts for photodegradation of organic pollutants. Recently, another kind of carbon based material, which has been considered as the alternative of graphene, viz, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) has drawn immense research attention as a low-cost and metal-free photocatalyst.…”

“…This stable polymorph of carbon nitrides having two dimensional sheet like electronic structure with moderate bandgap (∼ 2.7 eV), possesses high thermal and chemical stability and is currently being investigated for various applications, such as, in lithium ion battery, catalysts, lubricant, [17,18] sensor, [19,20] and photocatalytic applications. [8,9,[11][12][13][14]21,22] However, the high recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in pristine g-C 3 N 4 limits its practical application as efficient photocatalyst. [23,24] Several strategies have, therefore, been developed in order to enhance the photocatalytic performance of g-C 3 N 4 which includes doping with metals/non-metal atoms, [25,26] tailoring the surface morphology of g-C 3 N 4 [27,28] or creating heterojunction by making composite with other nanostructures.…”

“…[23,24] Several strategies have, therefore, been developed in order to enhance the photocatalytic performance of g-C 3 N 4 which includes doping with metals/non-metal atoms, [25,26] tailoring the surface morphology of g-C 3 N 4 [27,28] or creating heterojunction by making composite with other nanostructures. [8,[11][12][13][14]21,22,29,30] In this work, a heterojunction nanocomposite based on g-C 3 N 4 and ZnS has been synthesized in order to facilitate more photoinduced electron-hole pairs separation and their transportation through the coupled semiconductor. This produces more charge carriers to participate in the photodegradation reaction of the organic pollutants.…”