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Construction of Hollow TiO2/ZnS Heterojunction Photocatalysts for Highly Enhanced Photodegradation of Tetracycline Hydrochloride

Molecules 2025 1 citation ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 43 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Ying Zhang, A. C. Su, Yuqin Ding, Yuhan Wu, Yapeng Tan, Jian-Guo Chang

Summary

A hollow TiO2/ZnS heterojunction photocatalyst was constructed for degrading organic pollutants under light irradiation, showing enhanced performance due to improved charge carrier separation at the material interface. Such photocatalysts are candidates for treating wastewater containing plastic-derived chemical contaminants.

TiO2 photocatalysts exhibit great potential in solar fuel production and environmental remediation, yet their practical applications are often hindered by high electron-hole recombination rates. This study presents a novel strategy for fabricating hollow anatase TiO2-modified ZnS heterostructures (TiO2/ZnS) via a simple hydrothermal method. The heterostructure effectively combines the high electron mobility of ZnS, which facilitates rapid photogenerated electron transfer, with the high specific surface area of hollow TiO2, which enhances pollutant adsorption. As a result, TiO2/ZnS demonstrates superior tetracycline degradation efficiency due to optimized charge separation and improved accessibility to reactive sites, compared to pristine TiO2 and ZnS. Furthermore, the enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to efficient charge separation facilitated by Type-II heterojunctions between ZnS and anatase TiO2. Cycling tests reveal that TiO2/ZnS retains over 94% of its activity after 5 cycles. This work offers a versatile approach for stabilizing metal oxides through heterostructure engineering, with significant implications for scalable environmental catalysis.

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