Facile fabrication of N-doped ZnS nanomaterials for efficient photocatalytic performance of organic pollutant removal and H-2 production

摘要

Novel N-doped ZnS microspheres were successfully synthesized by a facile one-step method. The as-prepared N-doped ZnS catalysts exhibited outstanding photocatalytic activities toward the removal of organic pollutants under natural sunlight and H-2 generation by water splitting. As expected, the rationally designed N-doped ZnS catalysts displayed significantly enhanced photocatalytic H-2 production performances, particularly N-ZS3, with the highest H-2 evolution rate of 243.61 mmol g(-1) h(-1). In addition, in the presence of N-ZS3, ca. 99% metronidazole removal was achieved within 150 min under natural sunlight irradiation. Furthermore, the prepared catalysts exhibited high photocatalytic performance towards the removal of various other organic pollutants, including methyl orange, methylene blue, rhodamine B, ciprofloxacin, and sulfanilamide. The high photocatalytic performances of the prepared catalysts were attributed to N doping, which increased the visible light absorption capacity and electron transfer efficiency of ZnS. Finally, reaction mechanisms for photocatalytic oxidation and H-2 generation were proposed. It is anticipated that the design and fabrication of the N-doped ZnS photocatalyst will provide beneficial insights for organic pollutant removal and H-2 production applications. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.