Well-defined heterointerface over the doped sulfur atoms in NiS@S-rGO nanocomposite improving spatial charge separation with excellent visible-light photocatalytic performance

This work comprises the synthesis of efficient photocatalytic material of NiS@sulfur doped rGO nanocomposite. GO was constructed by a revised Hummer's method from graphite powder. GO was reduced by the solvothermal method by using hydrazine as a reducing agent. NiS nanoparticles were synthesized by a hydrothermal method. NiS nanoparticles and sulfur doped rGO are tightly bridged to form a well-defined heterointerface through the doped sulfur atoms. The prepared nanocomposite and nanoparticles were characterized for structural properties by using various techniques such as FTIR, UV–vis, SEM, EPR, EDX, photocurrent responses and XRD. The prepared materials were used for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under sunlight and 98% degradation was observed for NiS@S-rGO nanocomposite in 90 min. Antibacterial performance of NiS@S-rGO against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria under sunlight was explored. These promising results may further be employed for the cleaning of polluted water from various industries.