Sulfur vacancy engineering mediated preparation of ZnIn2S4 photocatalyst to boost photocatalytic degradation of atrazine

Abstract

Vacancy engineering has emerged as a pivotal strategy in the advancement of photocatalysts, attracting extensive attention due to its remarkable potential for realizing highly efficient photocatalytic performance. In this work, the sulfur vacancy modified petal-shaped ZnIn₂S₄ (Sv-ZIS) photocatalyst was synthesized through a simple hydrothermal approach, which was further used to photo catalytically degrade atrazine (ATZ) upon visible light. The results indicated that the synthesized Sv-ZIS achieved a maximum ATZ degradation efficiency of 82.5 %, which surpasses that of unaltered ZIS by 2.72 times. This enhancement resulted from the introduction of sulfur vacancy broadened the light absorption and accelerated the separation of charges and transfer, together with enhanced surface area of ZIS. By combining density functional theory (DFT) calculations and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) measurements, the ATZ degradation pathway over Sv-ZIS was deduced. Furthermore, toxicity assessment software tools were used to evaluate the toxicity of photodegradation intermediates. This work was facilitated to designed the Sv-ZIS based photocatalyst for the efficient degradation of the agricultural waste water containing ATZ.