Preparation of CuS flower-like microsphere and CuS/g-C3N4/GO ternary photocatalyst and their photocatalytic performance

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 34; no. 26; p. 1808
• Main Authors: Fan, Zhao, Xu, Chao, Cheng, Jinkun, Xiong, Xiaobo, Qiu, Zhao, Wang, Yongqian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.09.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Carbon nitride; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical properties; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composite materials; Copper sulfides; Electron transfer; Heterojunctions; Holes (electron deficiencies); Materials Science; Methylene blue; Microspheres; Optical and Electronic Materials; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Quantum efficiency; Synthesis; Water pollution; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-023-11067-5

The problem of environmental pollution is an important issue for mankind. Semiconductor photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants has become one of the hot spots of scientific research because of its unique application advantages. CuS have attracted much attention in the photocatalytic degradation of semiconductors due to their stable chemical properties and wide photoresponse range. The rapid recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and the low quantum efficiency make the CuS photocatalytic efficiency unsatisfactory. In this paper, CuS and g-C 3 N 4 were designed to form heterojunctions to inhibit electron-hole pair recombination, and GO was added to increase electron transfer rate. We used hydrothermal method to synthesize composite materials, and analyzed the synthesis conditions of CuS flower-like microspheres, explored the synthesis condition of CuS/g-C 3 N 4  binary materials and CuS/g-C 3 N 4 /GO (CCG) ternary materials and the affecting factors of their photocatalytic performance. We characterized the composites by SEM, XRD, TEM, EDS, UV–Vis, FT-IR and XPS. The first-order kinetic curves of methylene blue (MB) photodegradation were simulated. The results show that CCG ternary materials have excellent photocatalytic performance and have potential application prospects in the treatment of organic dyes in water pollution.