Photocatalytic Performance of Quaternary Chalcogenides for Degradation of Cationic Dye: A UV-cut Study

Quaternary chalcogenide system has potential material in semiconducting electronic applications because of the narrow band gap and excellent optical and electronic properties in MIR to NIR range. Many researchers have shown great interest in photocatalytic studies because of their environmentally friendly nature. In this article, the Ge
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Sb
S
S$\mathrm{e}_{75-\mathrm{x}}E\mathrm{r}_{\mathrm{x}}$(x=0,0.2) chalcogenide system has been reported for the photodegradation of cationic dye in the UV-cut region. The bulk powder chalcogenide has been synthesized using the melt-quench technique, and its structural studies have been performed. It is found thatO.2 of Er-doped chalcogenide shows a degradation of 83% in 210 min for cationic methylene blue dye. First-order kinetics has been fitted to understand the photocatalytic rate phenomenon. In contrast, a band diagram for photocatalytic splitting has been proposed to understand the degradation mechanism. Overall, considering the suitability for parameter tailoring, this material has the potential to compete with existing binary and ternary catalysts.