Facile Construction of 2D/2D ZnIn 2 S 4 -Based Bifunctional Photocatalysts for H 2 Production and Simultaneous Degradation of Rhodamine B and Tetracycline.

A two-dimensional/two-dimensional (2D/2D) TiO 2 /ZnIn 2 S 4 photocatalyst was reasonably proposed and constructed by a two-step oil bath-hydrothermal method. TiO 2 nanosheets uniformly grown on the surface of ZnIn 2 S 4 nanosheets and a synergetic effect between the TiO 2 and ZnIn 2 S 4 could highly contribute to improving the specific surface area and hydrophilicity of ZnIn 2 S 4 as well as accelerating the separation and transfer of photon-generated e - -h + pairs, and thus enhancing the visible-light photocatalytic degradation and H 2 evolution performance of ZnIn 2 S 4 . Rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline (TC) were simultaneously selected as the target pollutants for degradation in the work. The optimum photocatalytic RhB and TC degradation properties of TiO 2 /ZnIn 2 S 4 -10 wt% were almost 3.11- and 8.61-fold higher than that of pure ZnIn 2 S 4 , separately, while the highest photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate was also observed in the presence of TiO 2 /ZnIn 2 S 4 -10wt% and 4.28-fold higher than that of ZnIn 2 S 4 . Moreover, the possible photocatalytic mechanisms for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic degradation and H 2 evolution were investigated and proposed in detail. Our research results open an easy pathway for developing efficient bifunctional photocatalysts.