Photocatalytic overall water splitting by sulfide-based materials is a great challenge because of the poor resilience of such materials against hole oxidation. In a recent study, Domen and co-workers developed an innovative strategy to stabilize sulfide-based photocatalysts by hybridizing S 3p with O 2p orbitals to produce oxysulfides in which S2- is stable. Further surface engineering of the oxysulfides with dual co-catalysts promoted charge separation and interface transfer, thus reducing the charge build-up that inhibits photocorrosion. The pH value of the reaction mixture is a critical consideration for achieving efficient stoichiometric H2 and O2 evolution by these oxysulfide photocatalysts.
Keywords: charge separation; orbital hybridization; oxysulfides; photocatalyst durability; surface engineering.
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