Synthesis and photocatalytic property of Cu2CoSnS4 nanocrystals with stannite and wurtzite structure

Stannite and wurtzite Cu2CoSnS4 (CCTS) nanocrystals are successfully prepared via a solvothermal approach. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy reveal that pure CCTS phases with stannite and wurtzite structure are obtained. Scanning electron microscopy shows that CCTS nanocrystals with stannite structure are composed of nanosheets with the thickness of about 50 nm while CCTS nanocrystals with wurtzite structure exhibit large number of irregular nanoparticles. Furthermore, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy are used to investigate optical and photocatalytic properties of CCTS nanocrystals. When CCTS nanocrystals with stannite and wurtzite structure are used as photocatalysts, the degradation of methylene blue can reach up to 72 and 53%, respectively, within 100 min under visible -light irradiation, which are suitable for effective visible-light photocatalysts.