Construction of g-C3N4/MoS2/SnO2 hybrid as 2D/2D/1D architecture for counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells and photodegradation of pharmaceutical drugs from wastewater
D. Karthigaimuthu, Murad Alsawalha, Aya A‐H. I. Mourad, Aya A‐H. I. Mourad, Yuvaraj M. Hunge, Y.M. Hunge, T. Elangovan
Abstract
In this work, we developed a heterogeneous g-C 3 N 4 /MoS 2 /SnO 2 hybrid catalyst by a facile hydrothermal technique. A prepared hybrid was characterized and validated by XRD , FTIR and XPS. The BET analysis confirms that the surface area and pore volume values of g-C 3 N 4 /MoS 2 /SnO 2 (65.8 m 2 g -1 , 0.29 cm 3 g -1 ) are higher than those of g-C 3 N 4 . Further FE-SEM and HR-TEM analyses clearly show that self-assembled SnO 2 nanorods are randomly and freely dispersed in g-C 3 N 4 and MoS 2 nanosheets as formed 2D/2D/1D nanostructure . The prepared hybrid served as counter electrodes (CE) for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The developed DSSC has J sc , and V oc parameter values of 8.6 mA/cm 2 and 0.558 V, then the resulting FF % and PCE % values were 0.7024 % and 3.38 %, respectively. The fabricated solar cells based on g-C 3 N 4 /MoS 2 /SnO 2 hybrid maintain 90 % of PCE % after 15 days. The photocatalytic function of the produced samples was tested against the ciprofloxacin (CIP) and ibuprofen (IBU) pollutants degradation under UV–Vis light irradiation and the g-C 3 N 4 /MoS 2 /SnO 2 hybrid catalyst showed higher photocatalytic degradation activity of 96 and 95 % towards CIP and IBU, respectively, which have higher efficiency than other synthesized samples within 80 and 100 min. The proposed photocatalytic mechanism of the constructed g-C 3 N 4 /MoS 2 /SnO 2 hybrid system is based on 2D/2D/1D Z-scheme synergy, and further Z-scheme synergy was investigated by a scavenger test and ESR studies. The high charge separation efficiency in the photocatalyst is responsible for the improved degradation efficiency, which is achieved using g-C 3 N 4 and SnO 2 as the reducing agents and MoS 2 as the co-catalyst and further studied its stability and reusability. This work effectively provides insight into the construction of a novel and extremely enforceable Z-scheme for UV–Vis light-based photocatalysts to degrade pharmaceutical pollutants from wastewater and low-cost energy harvesting for renewable energy .