Green synthesis of earth-abundant metal sulfides (FeS2, CuS, and NiS2) and their use as visible-light active photocatalysts for H2 generation and dye removal
Journal article, 2018

Earth-abundant metal sulfides (for example, FeS2, CuS, and NiS2) are promising materials to be used as photocatalysts due to their suitable electronic and optical properties. In this work, we present a fast and low-cost hydrothermal method to synthesize these materials. They are integrally characterized and evaluated as photocatalysts for the H2evolution reaction and the degradation of indigo carmine (IC). FeS2exhibits the highest photocatalytic efficiency (32 µmol g−1 h−1of H2evolution and 88% of indigo carmine degradation) under visible light, and this activity is attributed to a larger crystallite size, smaller particle size, and lower recombination, compared to CuS and NiS2. Moreover, three different sacrificial reagents are studied for the H2evolution reaction, including Na2S/Na2SO3, EDTA, and ethanol. Na2S/Na2SO3shows the highest enhancement in the activity, increasing the rate of H2production more than 15 times. This behavior is related to the lower oxidation potential of Na2S/Na2SO3. Moreover, we evaluate the activity of the materials for the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In summary, this work provides valuable information for effective applications of these earth-abundant metal sulfides for energy and environmental photocatalytic processes.

Author

Ali M. Huerta-Flores

Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi

Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon

Leticia M. Torres-Martínez

Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon

Edgar Moctezuma

Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi

Aadesh P. Singh

Chalmers, Physics, Chemical Physics

Björn Wickman

Chalmers, Physics, Chemical Physics

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics

0957-4522 (ISSN) 1573-482X (eISSN)

Vol. 29 13 11613-11626

Subject Categories

Chemical Process Engineering

Materials Chemistry

Other Physics Topics

DOI

10.1007/s10854-018-9259-x

More information

Latest update

4/5/2022 1