Synthesis of titanate nanofibers co-sensitized with ZnS and Bi2S3 nanocrystallites and their application on pollutants removal

• New Bi2S3–ZnS/TNF nanocomposite materials with different layouts were prepared.
• The ability of the Bi2S3–ZnS/TNF samples to produce hydroxyl radical was studied.
• The samples’ adsorption/photocatalytic activity for MB removal was investigated.
• The co-sensitized Bi2S3ZnS/TNF sample is the best adsorbent/photocatalyst.

The synthesis of nanocomposite materials combining titanate nanofibers (TNF) with nanocrystalline ZnS and Bi2S3 semiconductors is described in this work. The TNF were produced via hydrothermal synthesis and sensitized with the semiconductor nanoparticles, through a single-source precursor decomposition method. ZnS and Bi2S3 nanoparticles were successfully grown onto the TNF’s surface and Bi2S3–ZnS/TNF nanocomposite materials with different layouts. The samples’ photocatalytic performance was first evaluated through the production of the hydroxyl radical using terephthalic acid as probe molecule. All the tested samples show photocatalytic ability for the production of this oxidizing species. Afterwards, the samples were investigated for the removal of methylene blue. The nanocomposite materials with best adsorption ability were the ZnS/TNF and Bi2S3ZnS/TNF. The dye removal was systematically studied, and the most promising results were obtained considering a sequential combination of an adsorption-photocatalytic degradation process using the Bi2S3ZnS/TNF powder as a highly adsorbent and photocatalyst material.

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