Facet Engineering-Induced Construction of Ni2P/ZnIn2S4 Heterostructures for Boosted Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Yang Song; Yi Wang; Chenyao Hu; Caichao Ye; Zhimin Qian; Yunxia Zhao; Wei Cai

doi:10.1021/acsami.3c04308

Facet Engineering-Induced Construction of Ni₂P/ZnIn₂S₄ Heterostructures for Boosted Photocatalytic CO₂ Reduction

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Jun 28;15(25):30199-30211. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c04308. Epub 2023 Jun 13.

Authors

Yang Song¹, Yi Wang², Chenyao Hu³, Caichao Ye⁴, Zhimin Qian², Yunxia Zhao², Wei Cai²

Affiliations

¹ Nanjing XiaoZhuang University, Nanjing 211171, PR China.
² Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology (CICAEET), Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210044, P. R. China.
³ Advanced Analysis & Testing Center, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, P. R. China.
⁴ Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies & Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, P. R. China.

PMID: 37310106
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c04308

Abstract

Facet engineering was realized to enhance the CO₂ photoreduction performance of the Ni₂P/ZnIn₂S₄ heterostructure, in which the commonly exposed (1 0 2) face of ZnIn₂S₄ was converted to the (1 0 1) face due to the unique properties of the phosphide. The variation in the crystal plane strengthened the intense interfacial contact between Ni₂P and ZnIn₂S₄, resulting in the promotion of utilization and absorption efficiency for incident light and boosting the surface reaction rate. Combined with the significant metallicity of Ni₂P, inhibited recombination and strengthened transfer efficiency were achieved, leading to an obvious enhancement of photoreduction activity over Ni₂P/ZnIn₂S₄ compared to pure samples. In particular, the optimal NZ7 composite (the mass ratio of Ni₂P to ZnIn₂S₄) reached 68.31 μmol h^-1 g^-1 of CH₄, 10.65 μmol h^-1 g^-1 of CH₃OH, and 11.15 μmol h^-1 g^-1 of HCOOH. The mechanism of the CO₂ photoreduction process was elucidated using ESR and in situ DRIFTS techniques.

Keywords: Ni2P/ZnIn2S4; crystal plane change; facet engineering; formation mechanism; photoreduction of CO2.