A Nanophotocatalyst of ZnO/CuS with Photothermal Effect, Superhydrophobicity and Self-Healing Function

Photothermal-assisted photocatalysis is a novel catalytic technology that can not only utilize both light energy and light heat, but also simultaneously incorporate superhydrophobicity and self-healing ability into photocatalysts. It represents a significant advancement in efficient photocatalytic degradation of water pollution. Here, by incorporating the semiconductor photothermal agent CuS on the outer layer of ZnO nanoflowers, the deposited CuS layer exhibits an outstanding photothermal effect under near-infrared light irradiation, which can absorb infrared light and convert it into heat energy, enhancing the performance of the ZnO nanoflowers in situ. Meanwhile, a photothermal conversion surface material with self-healing superhydrophobicity is prepared by using a mixture of beeswax and polydimethylsiloxane. The broad light absorption ability and enhanced charge transfer accelerate the photocatalytic efficiency, in addition, the incorporation of superhydrophobicity enables resistance to corrosive liquid pollution and repairs its superhydrophobicity damage by beeswax migration to provide lasting protection. The degradation rate of MB is as high as 98% within 80 min. Finally, the mechanism of photothermal effect in photocatalysis and the mechanism of self-healing superhydrophobicity are proposed. This work innovatively integrates photothermal effect and self-healing superhydrophobic function into photocatalytic degradation of water pollution technology, which broadens the scope of improving photocatalytic performance and extends the photocatalyst operation life to a certain extent.