Sulfur precursor and citric acid effect on SnS2 nanoparticles and their influence on the photodegradation activity of selected organic compounds

Oreggioni, Daniela; Pérez Parada, Andrés; Aguiar, Ivana; Colazzo, Marcos; Pareja, Lucía; De León, María Andrea; Pereira, Heinkel Bentos; Pérez Barthaburu, María Eugenia

doi:10.1007/s11356-020-11809-6

Research Article
Published: 06 January 2021

Sulfur precursor and citric acid effect on SnS₂ nanoparticles and their influence on the photodegradation activity of selected organic compounds

Daniela Oreggioni¹,
Andrés Pérez Parada¹,
Ivana Aguiar²,
Marcos Colazzo³,
Lucía Pareja⁴,
María Andrea De León⁵,
Heinkel Bentos Pereira¹ &
María Eugenia Pérez Barthaburu ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3730-760X¹

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 28, pages 18234–18245 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Semiconductor nanoparticle-mediated photocatalysis is an attractive option for water decontamination, being the semiconductors as SnS₂ with a bandgap in the visible region, the most promising materials. In the present work, we evaluated the influence of important parameters in the photocatalytic application of SnS₂ nanoparticles. Our results show that the presence of citric acid (used as a capping agent) restricts the formation of hexagonal nanoparticles. We also demonstrated that using thioacetamide as a sulfur source results in smaller nanoparticles than thiourea, 24.0 nm and 616 nm respectively. Moreover, small hexagonal nanoparticles play a key role in the photocatalytic activity of SnS₂ nanoparticles. Compared with TiO₂ performance, SnS₂ nanoparticles exhibited faster kinetics for methyl orange (MO) degradation, Kapp = 0.0102 min⁻¹, and 0.029 min⁻¹, respectively. We proved that SnS₂ is capable of breaking the azo bond of methyl orange by direct reduction. Furthermore, our analyses indicate that SnS₂ nanoparticles do not degrade atrazine and imazapic, but the photocatalytic route of metribuzin competed with photolysis, resulting in a particular transformation product that was not obtained with light irradiation only. We demonstrated that SnS₂ nanoparticles have high bond selectivity for azo breaking. Furthermore, they represent an advance for the development of designed materials (such as heterostructures), where the properties of SnS₂ can be tuned.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Lic. Alvaro Olivera from Laboratorio de Alta Resolución, Departamento de Desarrollo Tecnológico, CURE, Rocha, Udelar, for the TEM images, and Dr. Alejandro Amaya from Cátedra de Fisicoquímica y Laboratorio de Fisicoquímica de Superficies, DETEMA, Facultad de Química, Montevideo, Udelar, for the nitrogen adsorption isotherm measurements. We are also thankful to Msc. Isabel Galain, Área de Radioquímica Facultad de Química, Udelar, and Dr. Mauricio Rodríguez from PDU Ciencias Físicas y sus aplicaciones, CURE, Udelar, for guidance in FTIR interpretation.

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Affiliations

Departamento de Desarrollo Tecnológico, Centro Universitario Regional del Este, Universidad de la República, Ruta 9 y Ruta 15, CP: 27000, Rocha, Uruguay
Daniela Oreggioni, Andrés Pérez Parada, Heinkel Bentos Pereira & María Eugenia Pérez Barthaburu
Área de Radioquímica, Departamento Estrella Campos, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, General Flores 2124, CP: 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay
Ivana Aguiar
Licenciatura en Análisis Alimentario, ITR Suroeste, Universidad Tecnológica, Saladero Santa María S/N y Av. de las Américas, CP: 60000, Paysandú, Uruguay
Marcos Colazzo
Departamento de Química del Litoral, Cenur Litoral Norte, Universidad de la República, Florida 1065, CP: 60000, Paysandú, Uruguay
Lucía Pareja
Laboratorio de Fisicoquímica de Superficies, DETEMA, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República General Flores 2124, CP: 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay
María Andrea De León

Authors

Daniela Oreggioni
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Andrés Pérez Parada
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Ivana Aguiar
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Marcos Colazzo
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Lucía Pareja
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María Andrea De León
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Heinkel Bentos Pereira
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María Eugenia Pérez Barthaburu
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Daniela Oreggioni, Andrés Pérez Parada, Ivana Aguiar, Marcos Collazo, Lucía Pareja, María Andrea De León, Heinkel Bentos Pereira, and María Eugenia Pérez Barthaburu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by María Eugenia Pérez Barthaburu and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to María Eugenia Pérez Barthaburu.

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Oreggioni, D., Pérez Parada, A., Aguiar, I. et al. Sulfur precursor and citric acid effect on SnS₂ nanoparticles and their influence on the photodegradation activity of selected organic compounds. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 18234–18245 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11809-6

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Received: 01 June 2020
Accepted: 23 November 2020
Published: 06 January 2021
Issue Date: April 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11809-6

Keywords

Tin sulfide
SnS₂
Photocatalysis
Methyl orange
Herbicides
Atrazine
Metribuzin
Imazapic