Bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) nanotubes decorated TiO2 nanoparticles heterojunction assembly for enhanced solar light driven photocatalytic activity

In this work, we report the synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles coupled with a metal sulfide semiconductor having narrower band gap i.e. Bi2S3, so as to utilize the maximum fraction of sunlight and to improve the photocatalytic performance of TiO2. Bi2S3 nanotubes TiO2 nanoparticle heterostructures were successfully synthesized using a facile solvothermal process. The composition, morphology, optical and pore structural properties of the as prepared photocatalyst were studied by various techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fourier transformation infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. It was observed that the synthesized heterostructures were composed of high density of TiO2 nanoparticles along with Bi2S3 nanotubes. The hetero-nanostructures composed of crystalline anatase TiO2 and orthorhombic Bi2S3 were synthesized, with high visible light response and surface area. The synthesized heterostructured photocatalyst was further explored for the degradation of a toxic azo dye i.e. amaranth dye under solar light and it exhibited superior photocatalytic activity as compared to bare Bi2S3 and TiO2. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.