Cooperative catalytic behavior of CoS and Bi2S3 nanoparticles on Zr:BiVO4 photoanodes for enhanced photoelectrochemical sulfite oxidation coupled with pharmaceutical pollution degradation†
Abstract
Photoelectrocatalysis is a promising advancing technology that converts energy into electricity and purifies the environment. A photoelectrochemical (PEC) reaction that splits water and degrades pharmaceutical pollutants can be achieved using bismuth vanadate (BiVO4). The water oxidation dynamics of BiVO4 photoanodes are sluggish owing to poor charge separation. In this paper, we demonstrate that bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) and cobalt sulfide (CoS) nanoparticles have a cooperative effect on Zr-doped BiVO4 electrodes (Zr:BiVO4) fabricated via PEC techniques. PEC water splitting results reveal that optimal Zr:BiVO4@Bi2S3–CoS films have a photocurrent response of 3.09 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. the RHE, which is three times better than Zr:BiVO4 films. As a result of combining the above features, Zr:BiVO4@Bi2S3/CoS electrodes achieved 1.53% applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE), with a substantial reduction in photocurrent onset potential. Additionally, the composite photoanode demonstrated superior performance in the PEC degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) to previously reported photonanodes. In the PEC reaction, Zr:BiVO4@Bi2S3/CoS yielded the most efficient degradation of TCH (94%), which was six times more than Zr:BiVO4 and EC (55%). The present study presents a visible light-responsive, efficient, sustainable water-splitting technique for producing hydrogen and provides new insights into wastewater treatment.
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