Solar light responsive 2D/2D BiVO4/SnS2 nanocomposite for photocatalytic elimination of recalcitrant antibiotics and photoelectrocatalytic water splitting with high performance

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

A hydrothermal approach (environmentally safe route) was followed to synthesize eco-friendly, nontoxic,sunlight responsive 2D/2D BiVO4/SnS2 (BVSNS) nanocomposites with varying mole ratios. BVSNSexhibits favorable band gap, high charge carrier mobility, good surface area, lower recombining capabilityrendering it highly efficient photocatalyst. The superiority of photocatalysts was then tested for thedegradation of pharmaceutical pollutants, ofloxacin (oflox) and tetracycline (TC), and photoelectrocatalytic(PEC) water splitting under sunlight illumination. The 1:3 BiVO4:SnS2 (13BVSNS) composite hadhighest decomposition efficiency of 93.7 and 80.8 % with rate constants of 0.0164 and 0.010 min1 foroflox and TC-degradation, respectively. The GC–MS analysis was also conducted to examine the intermediatesand products formed during the photocatalytic degradation of TC. The PEC water splitting experimentsrevealed that 13BVSNS photoanode exhibited highest photocurrent density of 0.21 mA/cm2 at1.23 V vs RHE. The Mott-Schottky experiments demonstrated flat band potential of -0.37 V at 1.23 Vvs RHE for the 13BVSNS electrode. As a result, 21 lmolcm2sec-1 of H2 was produced and electrodewas stable for 6 h. Reusability studies (7 runs) were used to further examine the photocatalyst’s efficacy,and post reaction characterization results justified that the materials are highly stable with a long life.