A Simple Surfactant-Free Solution Phase Synthesis of Flower-like In2S3 Hierarchitectures and their Photocatalytic Activities

Abstract

Flower-like In 2 S 3 hierarchical nanostructures were successfully prepared via a facile solution-phase route, using thiacetamide as both sulfur source and capping agent. Our experimental results demonstrated that the morphology of these In 2 S 3 nanostructures can be easily modified by changing the ratio of In(NO 3 ) 3 /thiacetamide. With the ratio increasing from 1:1.5 to 1:6, the In 2 S 3 crystals exhibited flower-like morphology of varying size. XRD and HRTEM of the flowers revealed the cubic structure of In 2 S 3 ; morphological studies examined by SEM and TEM showed that the synthesized In 2 S 3 nanostructure was a flower-like hierarchitecture assembled from nanoscale flakes. XPS and EDX analysis confirmed the stoichiometry of In 2 S 3 nanoflowers. The optical properties were investigated by UV-vis DRS, which indicated that the In 2 S 3 nanoflower samples possess a band gap from 1.90 to 1.97 eV. Furthermore, photocatalytic activity studies revealed that the prepared In 2 S 3 nanoflowers exhibit an excellent photocatalytic performance, degrading rapidly the aqueous methylene blue dye solution under visible light irradiation. These results suggest that In 2 S 3 nanoflowers will be a promising candidate for a photocatalyst working under the visible light range. Keywords

Photovoltaic and photocatalytic properties of bismuth oxyiodide–graphene nanocomposites

“… 46 Another study on decomposition of MB in the presence of In 2 S 3 showed decolorization progress similar to this study which was proposed to be due to oxidative decomposition by electron injection from MB to In 2 S 3 . 47 In the paper by Liu, et al , 21 The enhanced photocatalytic activity of BiOI–GR is attributed to the addition of graphene which prevented the photogenerated carrier recombination. The electrons could be transferred to surface-absorbed oxygen and form activated ·O 2 − which further react with H + , producing hydroxyl radical ·OH.…”