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Synergistic effect of in situ growth of highly porous ZIF-8 on black phosphorus nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic and electrochemical performance

  • Shiloh Jessie Francisca Francis Aser Ravichandran , Raja Viswanathan ORCID logo , Sujin P. Jose , Jeyanthinath Mayandi ORCID logo , Dhanapandian Swaminathan ORCID logo and Krishnakumar Narendran ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: October 29, 2025
Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie
From the journal Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie

Abstract

The present study examines the synthesis of black phosphorus nanosheets (BPNs) through the liquid-phase exfoliation of bulk black phosphorus, subsequently leading to the in situ growth of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-8) on PVP-stabilized BPNs. The synthesized nanocomposites were analyzed using various analytical techniques, confirming that ZIF-8 is effectively attached to the surface of BPNs, resulting in improved dispersion, a large surface area and an appropriate pore size distribution. Incorporating ZIF-8 into BPNs significantly improves the photocatalytic performance in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine 6G (R6G) dyes. The degradation efficiency is 88 % for both MB and R6G within 90 min of UV light irradiation, attributed to the enhanced capture of electrons and the reduction of photogenerated electron-hole pair recombination potential. Additionally, the electrochemical capacitance of the uniquely designed electrode materials is analyzed using electrochemical techniques. BPNs/ZIF-8 electrode exhibits a 40 % increase in capacity witha specific capacitance of 145 Fg−1 compared to BPNs, which show a specific capacitance of 98 Fg−1 at apotential scan rate of 10mVs -1. Moreover, the BPNs/ZIF-8 electrode material has excellent cyclic stability with acapacitive retention of 85 % after 9,500 cycles. The results indicate that this material holds considerable promise for applications in photocatalysis and supercapacitors, opening avenues for progress in these fields.

Keywords: BPNs; ZIF-8; BPNs/ZIF-8; photocatalytic activity; electrochemical performance
Corresponding author: Krishnakumar Narendran, Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608002, Tamil Nadu, India; and School of Physics, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, 625021, Tamil Nadu, India, E-mail:

Acknowledgements

The authors, F. A. Shiloh Jessie Francisca and N. Krishnakumar, gratefully acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology and Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, for the financial assistance provided under the DST-Inspire Fellowship (Fellow Code: IF190788). The authors V. Raja and Sujin P. Jose, sincerely acknowledge the funding provided by UGC towards UGC Dr. DS Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowship (No.F.4-2/2006 (BSR)/OT/20–21/0008). The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the donors.

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Informed consent: Not applicable.

  3. Author contributions: F. A. Shiloh Jessie Francisa: writing – original draft, methodology and investigation. V. Raja: writing, data curation, investigation, and formal analysis. Sujin P Jose: formal analysis, and resource. J. Mayandi: resource, formal analysis and validation. S. Dhanapandian: editing and review. N. Krishnakumar: conceptualization, writing – review and editing, and supervision. All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.

  5. Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.

  6. Research funding: None declared.

  7. Data availability: The data that has been used is confidential.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/zpch-2025-0022).

Received: 2025-02-25
Accepted: 2025-09-09
Published Online: 2025-10-29

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

https://doi.org/10.1515/zpch-2025-0022
Keywords for this article
BPNs; ZIF-8; BPNs/ZIF-8; photocatalytic activity; electrochemical performance
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