CoS 2 :Ni 17 S 18 :Al 2 S 3 thin film as supercapacitor electrode for astounding energy storage and explicit photocatalyst for pollutants degradation

AbstractThe ternary metal sulfide CoS2:Ni17S18:Al2S3 thin films were created in the presence of diethyldithiocarbamate as a sulfur source, pursued by physical vapour deposition. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-visible spectrophotometer, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to identify and characterize the synthesised substances. The ternary metal sulfide had a mean crystallite size of 37.8 nm on the nanoscale. SEM revealed spherical particles with rounded edges particles. XPS presented Al 2p, Co 2p, Ni 2p and S 2p core level peaks of the elements. The ternary metal sulfide had a band gap energy of 3.49 eV. The phenomenal storage technology potential of the thin film was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry that revealed an astounding supercapacitance of 515 F g−1, demonstrating the material’s effectiveness. Voltammetric findings show the cycling stability of the nanoparticle thin film. Moreover, the photocatalytic degradation of contaminants such as methylene blue dye, pesticide zoxamide, and phenol was probed, with such a spectacular degradation rate constant of 4.11 × 10−2 min−1 with 91.5% degradation achieved for pesticide.Keywords: Supercapacitorenergy storagephotocatalystthin filmmetal sulfide AcknowledgementsAuthors express their gratitude to the Department of Environmental Sciences, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Pakistan for providing the technical and financial facilities needed for completion of this work. Authors also acknowledge the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and Photon Science Institute, The University of Manchester, UK. The authors highly acknowledge Xuzhao Liu, PhD student, The University of Manchester, UK, for his tremendous help and assistance during the research. We are highly thankful to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for providing financial support for this research under NRPU project No. 15782.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.