Photocatalytic effect in Co and Cu doped ZnS thin films

The photocatalytic effect, which is one of the phenomena due to the interaction of light with substances, were investigated for doped and undoped ZnS thin films. Photocatalytic reactions continue during their interaction with light. Zinc sulfide (ZnS), which is widely used today, and Co and Cu co-doped ZnS thin films were used in our experiments. In this study, the structural, optical and photocatalytic characteristics of thin films obtained on the glass surface by sol-gel method, were investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDX) and UV-VIS photo spectrometry measurements. Photocatalytic performance of the prepared samples was examined. According to SEM measurements, it was observed that the thin films were homogeneously distributed on the surface. The data from the XRD spectrum showed that the films were single-phase. According to photocatalytic measurements, it is observed that the ZnS photocatalytic yield is 40%, whereas it was increased to 50% efficiency for the 3% cobalt doped ZnS and decreased to 30% efficiency for the 3% cobalt and 3% copper co-doped ZnS thin films. With the increase in the amount of doped copper, that is, for 3% cobalt and 5% copper doped ZnS, the efficiency decreased to 10%. According to this analysis, it has been noticed that the increase in the copper ratio decreases the efficiency in the photocatalytic effect.