One-pot synthesis of SnS2/In2S3 heterostructures for efficient photocatalysis

The exploration of effective and stable photocatalysts driven by visible light to eliminate organic pollutants is very important to environmental remediation. In this work, a simple one-pot hydrothermal method was used to successfully prepare a series of type II SnS2/In2S3 heterojunction photocatalysts. The type II heterostructure is very effective in facilitating the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Therefore, the prepared SnS2/In2S3 heterostructuresexhibited significantly improved photocatalytic performance for the decomposition of organic pollutants, including rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline (TC), under visible light illumination. The optimal kinetic constants of photocatalytic degradation of RhB by SnS2/In2S3 are 99.2 times and 15.3 times of the original SnS2 and In2S3, respectively. Besides, the optimal kinetic constants of SnS2/In2S3 for photocatalytic degradation of TC are 118.8 times and 12.8 times of the original SnS2 and In2S3, respectively. The radical capture experiments and electron spin resonance results indicate that ·O2– is the main active substance in the reaction system, with h+ and ·OH playing auxiliary roles, while further demonstrating the charge transfer mechanism of type II heterojunction. A new insight into the rational design and construction of efficient and stable metal sulfide-based heterojunction photocatalysts will be provided by this work.