Combination of Broad Light-Absorption CuS with S,C,N-TiO: Assessment of Photocatalytic Performance in Nitrogen Fixation Reaction.

In the field of solar energy storage, photocatalytic ammonia production is a next-generation technology. The rapid recombination of charges and insignificant utilization of the sunlight spectrum are bottlenecks of effective photocatalytic N fixation. The introduction of impurities in the crystal lattice and the development of heterojunctions could effectively segregate carriers and improve the solar-light-harvesting capability, which can boost NH generation. Therefore, in this work, three-element doping by S, C, and N was carried out to rectify the photocatalytic feature of TiO, and then it was combined with a broad-light-absorption CuS semiconductor. The synthesized S,C,N-doped TiO/CuS nanocomposites with a QD size of almost 7.17 nm exhibited outstanding ability in photocatalytic N reduction, and the generation of NH reached 23 567 μmol L g without sacrificial agents, which was 5.67 and 2.11 folds larger than TiO and CuS, respectively. The promoted performance of the nanocomposite was ascribed to doping three elements and the construction of a Z-scheme system, which attains efficacious separation of carriers and supplies a dedicated path for carrier migration. This research not only supports a novel, sustainable, and facile strategy for the synthesis of S,C,N-TiO/CuS nanocomposites with inorganic materials and biocompatible characteristics but also provides new insights into the design and construction of TiO-based materials through nonmetal and low-cost three-elemental doping for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation.