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AgInS2 Decorated g-C3N4 for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation Synergistic Tetracycline Degradation

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Abstract

Combining photocatalytic nitrogen fixation with antibiotic wastewater degradation reaction is of great significance. As a metal-free photocatalyst, g-C3N4 has great application prospect in the field of bifunctional photocatalytic reaction because of its abundant raw materials, simple preparation method, low toxicity, and high stability. However, the further development of g-C3N4 is limited by its wide band gap (2.7 eV) and high recombination rate of carriers. In this paper, AgInS2 nanospheres modified g-C3N4 nanosheets were successfully prepared by a simple hydrothermal method. The photocatalytic nitrogen fixation activity of the obtained AgInS2-g-C3N4 hybrid was nearly two times (91 μmol/h/g) higher than that of g-C3N4. In addition, by adding a proper amount of tetracycline pollutant into the photocatalytic system, the photocatalytic nitrogen fixation activity was further increased to 248 μmol/h/g, and the synergistic degradation of tetracycline environmental pollutants was realized. Through a series of experimental characterization and theoretical calculation, the morphology and carrier dynamics of photocatalyst were systematically explored. The results show that the introduction of AgInS2 nanospheres improves the utilization rate of sunlight, surface active sites and carrier transport rate of g-C3N4. This work provides references for the design of environmentally friendly photocatalysts and their applications in the fields of environmental purification and energy conversion.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Science and technology project of Henan Province (232102240073), Eceshi (www.eceshi. com) was acknowledged for the TEM and XPS analysis.

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Bo Feng contributed to the conception of the study; Rui Wang contributed significantly to analysis and manuscript preparation; Wei Wei performed the data analyses and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lijing Wang.

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Yang, T., Wang, L., Liu, D. et al. AgInS2 Decorated g-C3N4 for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation Synergistic Tetracycline Degradation. Catal Lett 154, 2275–2284 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-023-04471-3

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