Facile synthesis of hierarchical S-scheme In2S3/Bi2WO6 heterostructures with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Construction of heterojunction photocatalysts is a valid tactics to boost the photocatalytic property of catalyst. Herein, a novel S-scheme heterojunction of zero/three dimensional (0D/3D) In 2 S 3 /Bi 2 WO 6 hybrid catalyst was obtained by assembling In 2 S 3 nanoparticles on floriated shaped Bi 2 WO 6 microsphere through a simple precipitation route for the first time. The morphology, structures, composition, chemical and optical properties of the resulting materials were carefully researched through various instruments. The degradation experiments revealed that In 2 S 3 /Bi 2 WO 6 composites exhibited superior photocatalytic behavior for dyes decomposition. The optimized In 2 S 3 /Bi 2 WO 6 composite showed remarkable photocatalytic decomposition Rhodamine B (RhB) and Methylene blue (MB), 16.0 (2.68)-fold and 70.3 (1.66)-fold larger than that of pristine Bi 2 WO 6 (In 2 S 3 ), and it also possessed good stability and reusability. The largely improved photoactivity may derive from the formed S-scheme heterojunction between Bi 2 WO 6 and In 2 S 3 , which accelerated photocarriers disassociation and retained strong redox power. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was applied to reveal the RhB decomposition pathway. Besides, the S-scheme charge transfer mechanism was well elucidated based on in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, density functional theory calculation (DFT), and trapping experiment along with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) tests.