A well-defined S-g-C3N4/Cu–NiS heterojunction interface towards enhanced spatial charge separation with excellent photocatalytic ability: synergetic effect, kinetics, antibacterial activity, and mechanism insights

Haya A. Abubshait; Shahid Iqbal; Samar A. Abubshait; Mohammed T. Alotaibi; Norah Alwadai; Nada Alfryyan; Hashem O. Alsaab; Nasser S. Awwad; Hala A. Ibrahium

doi:10.1039/D1RA07974C

A well-defined S-g-C₃N₄/Cu–NiS heterojunction interface towards enhanced spatial charge separation with excellent photocatalytic ability: synergetic effect, kinetics, antibacterial activity, and mechanism insights†

Haya A. Abubshait,‡^a Shahid Iqbal,

‡*^b Samar A. Abubshait,^c Mohammed T. Alotaibi,^d Norah Alwadai,^e Nada Alfryyan,^e Hashem O. Alsaab,^f Nasser S. Awwad^g and Hala A. Ibrahium^hi

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Basic Sciences Department, Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supporting Studies, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P. O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

^b Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences (SNS), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad, Pakistan
E-mail: shahidiqbal.chem@sns.nust.edu.pk

^c Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P. O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

^d Department of Chemistry, Turabah University College, Taif University, P. O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia

^e Department of Physics, College of Sciences, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, P. O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia

^f Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Taif University, P. O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia

^g Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P. O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia

^h Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P. O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia

ⁱ Department of Semi Pilot Plant, Nuclear Materials Authority, P. O. Box 530, El Maadi, Egypt

Abstract

A well-defined heterojunction among two dissimilar semiconductors exhibited enhanced photocatalytic performance owing to its capability for boosting the photoinduced electron/hole pair transportation. Therefore, designing and developing such heterojunctions using diverse semiconductor-based materials to enhance the photocatalytic ability employing various approaches have gained research attention. For this objective, g-C₃N₄ is considered as a potential photocatalytic material for organic dye degradation; however, the rapid recombination rate of photoinduced charge carriers restricts the widespread applications of g-C₃N₄. Henceforth, in the current study, we constructed a heterojunction of S-g-C₃N₄/Cu–NiS (SCN/CNS) two-dimensional/one-dimensional (2D/1D) binary nanocomposites (NCs) by a self-assembly approach. XRD results confirm the construction of 22% SCN/7CNS binary NCs. TEM analysis demonstrates that binary NCs comprise Cu–NiS nanorods (NRs) integrated with nanosheets (NSs) such as the morphology of SCN. The observed bandgap value of SCN is 2.69 eV; nevertheless, the SCN/CNS binary NCs shift the bandgap to 2.63 eV. Photoluminescence spectral analysis displays that the electron–hole pair recombination rate in the SCN/CNS binary NCs is excellently reduced owing to the construction of the well-defined heterojunction. The photoelectrochemical observations illustrate that SCN/CNS binary NCs improve the photocurrent to ∼0.66 mA and efficiently suppress the electron–hole pairs when compared with that of undoped NiS, CNS and SCN. Therefore, the 22% SCN/7CNS binary NCs efficiently improved methylene blue (MB) degradation to 99% for 32 min under visible light irradiation.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D1RA07974C
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 30 Oct 2021
Accepted: 02 Jan 2022
First published: 25 Jan 2022
This article is Open Access

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RSC Adv., 2022,12, 3274-3286

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A well-defined S-g-C₃N₄/Cu–NiS heterojunction interface towards enhanced spatial charge separation with excellent photocatalytic ability: synergetic effect, kinetics, antibacterial activity, and mechanism insights

H. A. Abubshait, S. Iqbal, S. A. Abubshait, M. T. Alotaibi, N. Alwadai, N. Alfryyan, H. O. Alsaab, N. S. Awwad and H. A. Ibrahium, RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 3274 DOI: 10.1039/D1RA07974C

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