Alabdullkarem Eman A, Khan Junaid
Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University Riyadh 11451 Saudi Arabia.
Department of Physics, Government Postgraduate College No. 1 Abbottabad Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan
RSC Adv. 2025 Jul 8;15(29):23801-23818. doi: 10.1039/d5ra03396a. eCollection 2025 Jul 4.
The mounting global imperative for sustainable energy storage and effective wastewater treatment necessitates the innovation of multifunctional materials capable of addressing both challenges in tandem. In the present work, we demonstrate the fabrication of a hybrid nanostructure comprising graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) integrated with Cu-ZnS, strategically engineered for dual functionality in photocatalytic and supercapacitor domains. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the successful formation of the Cu-ZnS/g-CN composite, revealing a synergistic coexistence of hexagonal and cubic ZnS crystal phases. Morphological characterization illustrated a uniformly integrated architecture, wherein Cu-ZnS nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed across the g-CN nanosheets. BET surface area analysis indicated a pronounced enhancement, reaching 148.16 m g, representing a 1.6-fold increase relative to pristine Cu-ZnS. The multifunctionality of the composite was substantiated through its superior performance in both energy storage and environmental remediation. Specifically, the optimized CuZnS-GCN25 electrode exhibited an impressive specific capacitance of 275 F g at 1 A g, retained 92.5% of its capacitance over 10 000 charge-discharge cycles, and maintained 70% retention at an elevated current density of 20 A g in a two-electrode configuration. In photocatalytic applications, CuZnS-GCN25 facilitated the efficient degradation of amoxicillin (AMX), achieving 92.4% removal under visible light within 60 minutes, consistent with pseudo-first-order kinetics ( = 0.029 min). These results highlight the significant potential of CuZnS-GCN25 as a high-efficiency, dual-purpose material for sustainable water treatment and advanced hybrid energy storage systems.
全球对可持续储能和有效废水处理的需求日益迫切，这就需要创新出能够同时应对这两个挑战的多功能材料。在本工作中，我们展示了一种由石墨相氮化碳（g-CN）与Cu-ZnS集成的混合纳米结构的制备方法，该结构经过精心设计，在光催化和超级电容器领域具有双重功能。X射线衍射（XRD）分析证实了Cu-ZnS/g-CN复合材料的成功形成，揭示了六方和立方ZnS晶相的协同共存。形态表征显示出一种均匀集成的结构，其中Cu-ZnS纳米颗粒均匀分布在g-CN纳米片上。BET表面积分析表明有显著增强，达到148.16 m²/g，相对于原始Cu-ZnS增加了1.6倍。该复合材料的多功能性通过其在储能和环境修复方面的卓越性能得到了证实。具体而言，优化后的CuZnS-GCN25电极在1 A/g电流密度下表现出令人印象深刻的275 F/g的比电容，在10000次充放电循环后保留了92.5%的电容，并且在两电极配置中，在20 A/g的高电流密度下保持70%的电容保留率。在光催化应用中，CuZnS-GCN25促进了阿莫西林（AMX）的有效降解，在可见光下60分钟内实现了92.4%的去除率，符合准一级动力学（k = 0.029 min⁻¹）。这些结果突出了CuZnS-GCN25作为一种用于可持续水处理和先进混合储能系统的高效、两用材料的巨大潜力。
