Novel MnCo2O4/YVO4 heterostructure for promoting photocatalytic oxidative desulfurization of thiophene under visible light.

In this work, for the first time, the photocatalytic oxidative desulfurizing of thiophene through exposure to visible light was performed on mesoporous MnCo 2 O 4 /YVO 4 heterojunctions. Mesoporous YVO 4 nanocrystals were combined with MnCo 2 O 4 nanoparticles (NPs) to construct MnCo 2 O 4 /YVO 4 heterostructure candidates using an easy sol-gel approach. The constructed mesoporous YVO 4 with a tetragonal structure has a large surface area of approximately 200.0 m2 g−1. Within 90-min visible light exposure, the 9.0 wt% MnCo 2 O 4 /YVO 4 nanocomposite photocatalyst exhibited 100.0 % desulfurization efficacy, which was ∼25.0 folds greater than occurred using the unmodified YVO 4 (only 4.0 %). Notably, the 9.0 wt% MnCo 2 O 4 /YVO 4 photocatalyst displayed a desulfurization rate of ca. 269.19 μmol L−1 min−1, which was ∼55.00 folds higher than that occurred on the unmodified YVO 4 material (4.90 μmol L−1 min−1). The constructed MnCo 2 O 4 /YVO 4 heterostructure exhibited preeminently superb photocatalytic thiophene oxidation with superior recyclability than nonmodified YVO 4. The n-n heterojunction construction between MnCo 2 O 4 and YVO 4 played a major role in synergistic promoting the photocatalytic efficacy of the MnCo 2 O 4 /YVO 4 nanocomposite through enlarging the photoabsorbance capability and promoting photoexcited carriers' separation. Moreover, the abundant surface reactive sites originating from the mesoporous nature of the constructed heterostructure candidates significantly contributed to enhancing the photocatalytic thiophene oxidation. The 9.0 wt% MnCo 2 O 4 /YVO 4 candidate exhibited high stability within 600.0 min. Overall, this contribution not only presents a new MnCo 2 O 4 /YVO 4 heterojunction, fabricated by an easy approach for highly efficient desulfurizing of thiophene but also provides good ideas for establishing other heterostructure materials. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]