Facile strategy for the fabrication of noble metal/ZnS composites with enhanced photocatalytic activities

The introduction of noble metal nanoparticles to photocatalysts can effectively improve the separation efficiency of the photogenerated electron-holes. Therefore, noble metal/ZnS composites were synthesized using a low-temperature solid-phase chemical method with sodium borohydride as the reducing a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:RSC advances 2020-01, Vol.10 (8), p.4455-4463
Main Authors: Jin, Xuekun, Chen, Fengjuan, Jia, Dianzeng, Cao, Yali, Duan, Haiming, Long, Mengqiu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical synthesis
Chemistry
Composite materials
Electromagnetic absorption
Gold
Low temperature
Metals
Nanoparticles
Noble metals
Organic chemistry
Photocatalysis
Photocatalysts
Photoelectric effect
Photoelectric emission
Photoelectrons
Photoluminescence
Platinum
Recycling
Reducing agents
Silver
Solid phases
Spectrum analysis
Sustainable development
Valence band
X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Zinc sulfide
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Summary:The introduction of noble metal nanoparticles to photocatalysts can effectively improve the separation efficiency of the photogenerated electron-holes. Therefore, noble metal/ZnS composites were synthesized using a low-temperature solid-phase chemical method with sodium borohydride as the reducing agent. The characterization results showed that the noble metal/ZnS composites have been successfully obtained and that the noble metals were distributed on the surface of ZnS. The catalytic results suggested that the composites exhibited improved activity after introduction of noble metals, which can be attributed to the rapid migration of carriers and the enhancement of the light absorption, mainly owing to the tight combination between the ZnS and noble metals and the plasmon resonance effect of the noble metals. The catalytic mechanism was explored by using photoluminescence spectroscopy, photocurrent spectra, valence band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS-VB) spectra and capture agent experiments, and a possible mechanism was proposed. This work provides a new strategy for the high-volume synthesis of noble metal-based composite photocatalysts, which could be helpful for sustainable development.
ISSN:2046-2069
2046-2069
DOI:10.1039/c9ra07163f