Construction of ZnO/Zn3In2S6/Pt with integrated S-scheme/Schottky heterojunctions for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and bisphenol a degradation

Lifang Yang; Jiangju Si; Liang Liang; Yunfei Wang; Li Zhu; Zizhong Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.06.164

Construction of ZnO/Zn₃In₂S₆/Pt with integrated S-scheme/Schottky heterojunctions for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and bisphenol a degradation

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Nov:649:855-866. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.06.164. Epub 2023 Jun 25.

Authors

Lifang Yang¹, Jiangju Si², Liang Liang², Yunfei Wang², Li Zhu², Zizhong Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Xinxiang University, Xinxiang 453003, PR China. Electronic address: lifang_yang@163.com.
² College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Xinxiang University, Xinxiang 453003, PR China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, Research Institute of Photocatalysis, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, PR China. Electronic address: z.zhang@fzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37390533
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.06.164

Abstract

Photocatalytic water splitting has been identified as a promising solution to tackle the current environmental and energy crisis in the world. However, the challenge of this green technology is the inefficient separation and utilization of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in photocatalysts. To overcome this challenge in one system, a ternary ZnO/Zn₃In₂S₆/Pt material was prepared as a photocatalyst using a stepwise hydrothermal process and in-situ photoreduction deposition. The integrated S-scheme/Schottky heterojunction in the constructed ZnO/Zn₃In₂S₆/Pt photocatalyst enabled it to exhibit efficient photoexcited charge separation/transfer. The evolved H₂ reached up to 3.5 mmol g^-1h^-¹. Meanwhile, the ternary composite possessed a high cyclic stability against photo-corrosion under irradiation. Practically, the ZnO/Zn₃In₂S₆/Pt photocatalyst also showed great potential for H₂ evolution while simultaneously degrading organic contaminants like bisphenol A. It is hoped in this work that the incorporation of Schottky junctions and S-scheme heterostructures in the construction of photocatalysts would lead to accelerated electron transfer and high photoinduced electron-hole pair separation, respectively, to synergistically enhance the performance of photocatalysts.

Keywords: Bisphenol A degradation; H(2) generation; S-scheme structure; Schottky junction; ZnO/Zn(3)In(2)S(6)/Pt.