In situ fabrication of a novel CdS/ZnIn 2 S 4 /g-C 3 N 4 ternary heterojunction with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance.

In this study, a novel g-C 3 N 4 -based ternary heterojunction was rationally designed and constructed by the in situ growth of ZnIn 2 S 4 nanosheets and CdS nanoparticles onto the g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets using a facile two-step oil-bath method. Through optimizing the proportion of ZnIn 2 S 4 and CdS component, g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets coupled with ZnIn 2 S 4 nanosheets and CdS nanoparticles (denoted as CdS/ZnIn 2 S 4 /g-C 3 N 4 ) exhibited obviously higher photocatalytic properties for RhB removal than the single-component and dual-component systems. Among the as-obtained ternary photocatalysts, it was found that the ternary CdS/ZnIn 2 S 4 /g-C 3 N 4 -0.2 photocatalyst displayed the optimum photocatalytic property (96%) within a short time (30 min), which was almost 27.42 and 1.17 times higher than that of pure g-C 3 N 4 and binary ZnIn 2 S 4 /g-C 3 N 4 -0.7 composite. The excellent activity of the ternary CdS/ZnIn 2 S 4 /g-C 3 N 4 heterostructure is assigned to the synergetic effects of CdS nanoparticles, ZnIn 2 S 4 nanosheets and g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets, which not only broaden the visible-light absorption range, but also improve the charge mobility and separation rate, thus boosting the visible-light-driven photocatalytic property of g-C 3 N 4 .