The visible-light-driven type III heterojunction H3PW12O40/TiO2-In2S3: A photocatalysis composite with enhanced photocatalytic activity

H3PW12O40/TiO2-In2S3, a visible-light-driven Type III photocatalysis composite heterojunction, is synthesized by typical sol-gel method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) and energy dispersive X-ray spectra (EDS) analysis show that HPW which is anchored to the surface of TiO2-In2S3 makes the crystallite sizes of HPW/TiO2-In2S3 reduce to 9.7 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirm that HPW acts as the bridge assisting in the transfer of electronics from TiO2 to In2S3 in H3PW12O40/TiO2-In2S3. The optical properties of synthesized composites are investigated by UV-Vis diffused reflection spectra (UV-Vis DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The lattice defects of TiO2 lead to the existence of oxygen-vacancies and impurity energy levels which make TiO2 respond to visible light. And the type-III heterojunction restrains the recombination of photo-generated carriers effectively. Under visible light irradiation (lambda = 400 nm), H3PW12O40/TiO2-In2S3 displays higher photocatalytic degradation activity of imidacloprid (82.7%), comparing with H3PW12O40/TiO2 (26.7%), TiO2-In2S3 (20.6%) and TiO2 (16.0%). The pseudo-first-order degradation rate constant of HPW/TiO2-In2S3 is 6, 7 and 13 times higher than that of HPW/TiO2, TiO2In2S3 and TiO2, respectively. Moreover, the photogenerated holes and center dot OH radicals are proved as the main active species in degradation process. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.