Triptycene-Based Polymer Embedded in ZnIn₂S₄ to Construct a Hierarchical Heterostructure for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

Development of promising photocatalysts with a synergistic effect for hydrogen generation holds paramount significance for solving the global energy problem. Herein, we rationally design a hierarchical heterostructure in which a triptycene covalent polymer (TCP) is grown in situ on ZnIn 2 S 4 through a Suzuki coupling reaction. Assorted experimental results demonstrate that amorphous TCP with a high BET surface area (903 m 2 g −1 ) is embedded on 2D ZnIn 2 S 4 nanoflakes by a self-assembly process, thus indicating the unique hierarchical architecture, high surface area, and large interface contact area. Based on the favorable heterojunction structure, ZnIn 2 S 4 /TCP-2 yields the highest visible-light-derived hydrogen production rate of 1432.8 μmol h −1 g −1 , which is more than 9 times that of bare ZnIn 2 S 4 . The enhanced hydrogen evolution of ZnIn 2 S 4 /TCP comes from the enhanced absorption of visible light, a well-matched band structure, and effective electron transfer. This work provides a promising approach to enhance the solar hydrogen production performance of metal sulfide by using a triptycene covalent polymer.

Hierarchical MoO2/ZnIn2S4 Schottky Heterojunction Stimulated Photocatalytic H2 Evolution under Visible Light

“…The first one was the value of the optimized H 2 evolution rate, and the second one was the enhancement multiple of the rate after building the heterojunction. Herein, the production rate of 10%M/Z (3730.5 μmol/g/h) outperformed those of the reported ZnIn 2 S 4 @In(OH) 3 (101 μmol/g/h), 41 2 wt % WN@ C/ZnIn 2 S 4 (196.0 μmol/g/h), 57 ZnIn 2 S 4 /TCP (1432.8 μmol/ g/h), 58 O-doped ZnIn 2 S 4 (2120 μmol/g/h), 59 ZnIn 2 S 4 @NH 2 -MIL(Ti) (2204.2 μmol/g/h), 37 and NiS/ZnIn 2 S 4 (3333.3 μmol/g/h) 1 and was even higher than that of 3 wt % Pt loading-ZnIn 2 S 4 @Ti 3 C 2 T x (3475 μmol/g/h). 13 Although the rate was lower than those of ZnIn 2 S 4 @PCN-224 (5680 μmol/ g/h), 60 NiCo 2 S 4 /ZnIn 2 S 4 (6834.6 μmol/g/h), 25 and S v -ZIS/ MoSe 2 (63,210 μmol/g/h), 61 the activity enhancement multiple after MoO 2 modification in this work was notably higher than these photocatalysts.…”

Rational design of 2D/2D ZnIn2S4/C3N4 heterojunction photocatalysts for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production

“…1a, the PXRD of C 3 N 4 and C 3 N 4 (180) show two diffraction peaks at 13.2° and 27.5° corresponding to (100) and (002) planes (JCPDS 87-1526), which can be assigned to the reduplicative tris-heterocycle packing and the interlayer stacking of aromatic segments 28 Besides, the peak intensity of C 3 N 4 (180) decreases compared with C 3 N 4 , implying thinner nanosheet structure. As for ZnIn 2 S 4 , the PXRD diffraction peaks are at 21.5°, 27.6°, 30.4°, 39.8°, 47.1°, 52.3° and 55.5°, which are ascribed to the (006), (102), (104), (108), (110), (116) and (202) crystal facets with hexagonal crystal ZnIn 2 S 4 (JCPDS 65-2023) 29 Compared with C 3 N 4 , C 3 N 4 (180) and ZnIn 2 S 4 , the PXRD patterns of XZnIn 2 S 4 /C 3 N 4 (180) and 40ZnIn 2 S 4 /C 3 N 4 nanocomposites are similar to that of ZnIn 2 S 4 , but PXRD diffraction peaks of C 3 N 4 were not apparent. The main reason is the coincidence of the diffraction peaks of 27.5°.…”

Ni loaded SnS2 hexagonal nanosheets for photocatalytic hydrogen generation via water splitting

“…Since from a few decades, researchers have proposed many different strategies or routes to overcome these restrictions, including co-catalyst loading, crystal facet engineering, construction of different surface morphology with porous structure, band gap engineering, and construction of homo or hetero-junctions (binary, ternary), etc. [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] To avoid the recombination of charge carriers, noble metal nanoparticles have been widely used as efficient cocatalysts decorated on semiconductor photocatalysts. Many researchers have reported that noble metal NPs, such as Au, Pt, Ag, Rh, Ni-Pt, Pd, Cu-Pd, and Au-Pd have been reported resulting in enhanced overall photocatalytic activity by enhancing the electron-hole charge separation.…”