Efficient adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of Congo red onto hydrothermally synthesized NiS nanoparticles

• Published in: Journal of nanoparticle research : an interdisciplinary forum for nanoscale science and technology 2013-03, Vol.15 (3), p.1475-1475, Article 1475
• Main Authors: Guo, Hongxu, Ke, Yingchang, Wang, Dongfeng, Lin, Kaili, Shen, Ruxiang, Chen, Jianhua, Weng, Wen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical synthesis methods; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Inorganic Chemistry; Irradiation; Lasers; Materials Science; Methods of nanofabrication; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoparticles; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanotechnology; Optical Devices; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of low-dimensional, mesoscopic, and nanoscale materials and structures; Optics; Photodegradation; Photonics; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Research Paper; Solid surfaces and solid-solid interfaces; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 1388-0764; 1572-896X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11051-013-1475-y

NiS nanoparticles (NiS NPs) have been hydrothermally prepared and characterized by the methods of X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra, photoluminescence, and thermogravimetric analysis. NiS NPs exhibit fast adsorption in the removal of Congo red (CR) in aqueous solution, in which the pseudo-second-order model was the best to describe the adsorption kinetics, and the intraparticle diffusion was not only the rate-limiting step. The NiS NPs also exhibit efficient photocatalytic activity in the degradation of CR under visible-light irradiation, in which the 30 mg/L CR was almost completely degraded after illumination during 210 min. The •OH radicals in the process of photocatalytic degradation were observed by fluorescence technique.