Efficient photocatalytic desulfurization of thiophene under visible light irradiation over flower-like AgBiS2 photocatalyst

Journal of Nanoanalysis

دوره 7، شماره 4، اسفند 2020، صفحه 248-261   

نوع مقاله: Original Research Paper

شناسه دیجیتال (DOI): 10.22034/jna.2022.680835

نویسندگان

Mehdi Mousavi-Kamazani^{* 1}؛ Reza Rahmatolahzadeh²؛ Hassan Najafian³

¹New Technology Faculty, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.

²Polymer Chemistry Department, School of Science, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran

³Department of Chemistry, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran

چکیده

Here, we report the production of hierarchical flower-like AgBiS2 nanostructures
by an amino acid-modified polyol route. This work indicates that by changing the
polyol process conditions including kind of capping agent, reaction time and reflux
temperature, the sheet-like, cone-like, sphere-like and flower-like morphologies of
AgBiS2 micro/nanostructures can be prepared. The phase, elemental composition,
morphology and optical characteristics of as-prepared AgBiS2 nanostructures were
analyzed by UV–Vis, FESEM, XRD, and EDS techniques. After characterization of
the products, the AgBiS2 nanostructures were employed as novel photocatalysts
for oxidative desulfurization of thiophene/n-octane solution as model fuel under
visible light illumination. Results demonstrate that hierarchical flower-like AgBiS2
photocatalyst with desirable band gap energy (2.44 eV) has high photocatalytic
desulfurization performance of about 89% after 2 h of visible light irradiation.
As well as, the effects of morphology, photocatalyst dosage and reusability of
the AgBiS2 nanostructures on the photocatalytic performance were evaluated.
The excellent photocatalytic activity of AgBiS2 photocatalyst can be attributed
to the strong visible light absorption, high separation rate of electron–hole pairs,
special hierarchical structures and suitable band gap energy. Moreover, a reliable
photo-oxidation desulfurization mechanism was discussed according to the
active species trapping experiments, which revealed the photo-generated h+ and
•O2 − radicals were the main active species in the photocatalytic desulfurization
process.

کلیدواژه‌ها

AgBiS2 nanostructures؛ Polyol؛ Photocatalytic؛ Desulfurization؛ Radical trapping