Core-shell composite nanoarchitectonics of TiO@NiCoS via thermal decomposition approach for photodegradation of congo red.

In the present work, TiO@NiCoS core-shell nanocomposites have been successfully synthesized using a thermal decomposition approach using nickel acetyl acetonate and cobalt acetyl acetonate as metal salts and thiourea as source of sulfur in the presence of TiO microspheres in diphenyl ether at about 200 °C in air aiming at their application in photodegradation of congo red (CR), a dye pollutant. The thickness of NiCoS nanoparticles (shell) could be varied using different concentrations of reagents. Various analytical techniques were used to characterize the TiO@NiCoS core-shell nanocomposites including powder XRD, FE-SEM, XPS, TEM and EDX confirming their successful synthesis. The synthesized core-shell nanocomposites exhibit notable photocatalytic activity towards degradation of an aqueous solution of congo red under sunlight. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of TiO@NiCoS nanocomposites is better than that of TiO-based nanocomposites, metal sulfide nanoparticles and other nanocomposites reported in the literature.