Photocatalytic pollutant elimination and hydrogen production over TiO2 NTs/Bi2S3-MoS2 with Z-scheme configuration: Kinetics and mechanism

Functional hybrid materials with unique electron transport path could be fabricated by the construction of heterojunction semiconductors with matched energy band structures, which exhibit excellent photocatalytic capacity in environmental treatment and new energy exploitation. Herein, ternary photocatalysts with Z-scheme heteojunctions were fabricated by Bi2S3-MoS2 deposition on TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2 NTs/Bi2S3-MoS2) via a solvothermal method. The design included the advantages of one-dimensional TiO2 nanotubes and high visible light responsive Bi2S3-MoS2 sensitizers, enhancing the solar harvesting, electron transfer and photocatalytic performance. The TiO2 NTs/Bi2S3-MoS2 exhibited outstanding photocatalytic pollutant removal and H2 evolution, and it also showed high visible light-driven photoelectric conversion. Additionally, the photocatalytic mechanism and active species for pollutant degradation were also revealed. In particular, the photocatalyst displayed remarkably high photocatalytic stability after sustained experimental cycles. It is anticipated that the Z-scheme heterogeneous photocatalyst would exhibit glorious achievement in practical applications.