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Controlled hydrothermal synthesis and solar light photocatalysis properties of branched Bi2S3/TiO2 nano-heterostructure F. Bessoussa1,2, J. Ben Naceur1,*

, L. Samet1,3, and R. Chtourou1

1

Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems, Research and Technology Center of Energy,, Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia 2 Faculty of Science of Tunis, University Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia 3 Preparatory Institute for Engineering Studies-El-Manar (IPEIEM), University Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia

Received: 6 April 2020

ABSTRACT

Accepted: 26 August 2020

In this work, we used two simple and inexpensive hydrothermal steps to synthesize Bi2S3 nanoflowers branched on TiO2 nanorod heterostructure. The nanoscale morphology of Bi2S3 deposited on TiO2 nanorods was optimized by controlling the hydrothermal growth temperature of bare Bi2S3 nanoparticles. Under solar lighting, the structural and optical properties, also the photocatalytic performance was systematically evaluated for the bare Bi2S3, bare TiO2 and Bi2S3/TiO2 heterostructures synthesized under optimized conditions. The Bi2S3/TiO2 heterostructures showed an enhanced visible-light absorption ability and photocatalytic efficiency comparing to bare TiO2. Photoluminescence and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements suggest that Bi2S3/TiO2 heterostructures promoted the separation of electron-hole pairs and then enhanced the photocatalytic degradation performance for organic pollutant. The prepared heterostructures showed great stability and reusability. It also displayed enhanced photocatalytic performance for MB degradation, presenting 90% removal efficiency for 240 min, under solar light irradiation. The improved photocatalytic performance was attributed to the large Bi2S3 nanowires branched like nanoflowers structure on TiO2 nanorod arrays. This performance has obviously led to a better separation of electron-hole pair and an improvement in the absorption of light in the visible-light region.



Springer Science+Business

Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

Address correspondence to E-mail: [email protected]

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04350-2

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron

1 Introduction Nowadays, with the energy crisis and water shortage, photocatalysis is attracting the attention and interest of many researchers on solar energy conversion and pollutant degradation [1]. Given, the use of several dyestuffs for textile dyeing, pharmaceuticals and paper industry [2], water pollution is a major problem resulting in serious environmental effects because of their toxicities [3]. Therefore, different techniques have been used to biologically remove contaminants. Among them, photocatalysis has been effective for dye degradation [4], CO2 reduction and pollutant purification [5]. In this context, heterogeneous photocatalysts based on titanium dioxide (TiO2) have been widely investigated in academic research and extensively involved in industrial applications [6–8]. Titanium dioxide is a p