NiCo Layered Double Hydroxide Bearing ZnIn2S4 Nanosheets for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Cr(VI) Reduction

Taking advantage of Ni2+ etching on Co-ZIF-L, NiCo layered double hydroxide (NiCo-LDH) with a leaf-like structure and rough surface was achieved and then employed as the structural template to rationally develop a two-dimensional and core–shell NiCo-LDH/ZnIn2S4 composite. Owing to the morphological merits as well as the tight interfacial contact and enhanced contact area between NiCo-LDH and ZnIn2S4 (ZIS), the obtained NiCo-LDH/ZIS favorably enables the interfacial electron transfer to solve the inherent fast photoinduced electron and hole recombination issue of ZIS. Benefiting from this, NiCo-LDH/ZIS with the optimized NiCo-LDH content displayed a high photocatalytic Cr(VI) reduction efficiency and was able to reduce 30 mg/L Cr(VI) within only 3 min under visible light, making it a very promising photocatalyst to treat polluted water containing Cr(VI).