Synchronous synthesis of S-doped carbon nitride/nickel sulfide photocatalysts for efficient dye degradation and hydrogen evolution

Rational design of photocatalysts with low-cost and high-efficiency is of great significance for environmental remediation and energy utilization. Herein, the NiS-loaded on S-doped carbon nitride photocatalysts were synchronous synthesized via one-pot hydrothermal method. The activities of the photocatalysts were evaluated by photodegradation of RhB and photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible-light irradiation. It has been found that the optimal photocatalyst (SCN/NiS-1) showed outstanding photocatalytic activity of removing 98.5% RhB within 15 min and 700.9 μmol‧g−1‧h−1 H2-evolving rate with 0.89 wt% sulfur doping and 1 wt% NiS loading, respectively, which were significantly higher than pristine g-C3N4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of SCN/NiS-1 was due to its expanded light absorption and facilitated separation or transportation of photoinduced charge carriers under the synergistic function of S doping and NiS loading. A possible mechanism of SCN/NiS-x on the improvement of the photocatalytic performance of carbon nitride was proposed based on a series of characterization analyses. This work strengthens the idea that bulk and surface engineering simultaneously affect photocatalytic activity.