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Nano Research 2023, 16(2): 2102-2110 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4926-x
Research Article | Issue | Published: 14 October 2022

Uncovering mechanism of photocatalytic performance enhancement induced by multivariate defects on SnS2

Show Author's Information Sheng-Qi Guo1,  Bo Yang2( ),  Zhenzhong Hu1,  Mengmeng Zhen1,  Bingchuan Gu3,  Boxiong Shen1( )
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Clean Energy and Pollutant Control, School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Pollutant Sensitive Materials and Environmental Remediation, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei 235000, China
State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Keywords:
photocatalysis, SnS2, reaction mechanism, multivariate defects, pollutants degradation
Topics:
Photocatalysts
Cite this article:
Guo S-Q, Yang B, Hu Z, et al. Uncovering mechanism of photocatalytic performance enhancement induced by multivariate defects on SnS2. Nano Research, 2023, 16(2): 2102-2110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4926-x
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Defect engineering is recognized as an effective route to obtain highly active photocatalytic materials. However, the current understanding of defects is mainly limited to isolated atomic vacancy defects, ignoring the exploration of the functions of multivariate defects formed by the deletion of several adjacent atoms in photocatalytic system. Here, we prepared SnS2 nanostructures with the same morphology but different dominant defects, and by testing their photocatalytic performance, it was found that the multivariate defects can significantly improve the photocatalytic performance than isolated S vacancies. Combining experiments and theoretical calculations, we confirmed that the promotion of multivariate defects, especially “S-Sn-S” vacancy associates, on the photocatalytic performance is reflected in many aspects, such as the regulation of the energy band structure, the improvement of the charge separation efficiency, and the promotion of the adsorption and activation of guest molecules. SnS2 with “S-Sn-S” vacancy associates exhibits excellent photocatalytic water purification ability. Under the induction of “S-Sn-S” vacancy associates, phenol was thoroughly photocatalytically decomposed, further confirming its excellent functionality. This work not only provides new insights into identifying advantage defects in the catalyst structure, but also offers new ideas for constructing highly active photocatalysts based on defect engineering.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Uncovering mechanism of photocatalytic performance enhancement induced by multivariate defects on SnS2

Show Author's information Sheng-Qi Guo1, Bo Yang2( ), Zhenzhong Hu1, Mengmeng Zhen1, Bingchuan Gu3, Boxiong Shen1( )
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Clean Energy and Pollutant Control, School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Pollutant Sensitive Materials and Environmental Remediation, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei 235000, China
State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China

Abstract

Defect engineering is recognized as an effective route to obtain highly active photocatalytic materials. However, the current understanding of defects is mainly limited to isolated atomic vacancy defects, ignoring the exploration of the functions of multivariate defects formed by the deletion of several adjacent atoms in photocatalytic system. Here, we prepared SnS2 nanostructures with the same morphology but different dominant defects, and by testing their photocatalytic performance, it was found that the multivariate defects can significantly improve the photocatalytic performance than isolated S vacancies. Combining experiments and theoretical calculations, we confirmed that the promotion of multivariate defects, especially “S-Sn-S” vacancy associates, on the photocatalytic performance is reflected in many aspects, such as the regulation of the energy band structure, the improvement of the charge separation efficiency, and the promotion of the adsorption and activation of guest molecules. SnS2 with “S-Sn-S” vacancy associates exhibits excellent photocatalytic water purification ability. Under the induction of “S-Sn-S” vacancy associates, phenol was thoroughly photocatalytically decomposed, further confirming its excellent functionality. This work not only provides new insights into identifying advantage defects in the catalyst structure, but also offers new ideas for constructing highly active photocatalysts based on defect engineering.

Keywords: photocatalysis, SnS2, reaction mechanism, multivariate defects, pollutants degradation

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 19 July 2022
Revised: 15 August 2022
Accepted: 16 August 2022
Published: 14 October 2022
Issue date: February 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. U20A20302 and 21701125), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2021T140512 and 2020M680869), Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (No. 20JCQNJC00950), Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (No. B2021202001), Key R & D projects in Hebei Province (No. 20373701D), and Overseas High-level Talents Introduction Plan Foundation of Hebei Province (No. E2019050012).

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