Feng-Juan Chen

Facile synthesis of Bi2S3 hierarchical nanostructure with enhanced photocatalytic activity.

A simple wet chemistry method was employed for the synthesis of Bi2S3 hierarchical nanostructure using thioglycolic acid as a capping agent under reflux condition. The obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscope images (HR-TEMs), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and nitrogen sorption measurement. FE-SEM and TEM observations displayed that Bi2S3 hierarchical nanostructure assembled from nanorods of about 100 nm in length and 5-10 nm in diameter was successfully obtained. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared samples was evaluated by the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange under UV irradiation. The results indicated that Bi2S3 hierarchical nanostructure exhibited superior photocatalytic performance to pure Bi2S3, which can be ascribed to large specific surface area, hierarchical nanostructure, and high hydrophilicity.

A room-temperature solid-state route for the synthesis of graphene oxide–metal sulfide composites with excellent photocatalytic activity

A simple and high yield room-temperature solid-state method was employed for the first time to fabricate graphene oxide–metal sulfide composites (GO–metal sulfide composites). The chemical composition, morphology and microstructural features of the obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen absorption–desorption specific surface area (BET) and UV-vis spectroscopy (UV). TEM study indicates that metal sulfide nanoparticles were well dispersed on the GO nanosheets in the GO–metal sulfide composites. It was found that the specific surface area of the composites increased with the introduction of GO. The as-synthesized GO–metal sulfide composites were used as photocatalysts for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under UV irradiation. The results indicated that the composites exhibited superior photocatalytic activity to pure metal sulfides, owing to the high specific surface area and the reduction of photoinduced electron–hole pair recombination in metal sulfides due to the introduction of GO.