Designing Surface-Defect Engineering to Enhance the Solar-Driven Conversion of CO₂ to C₂ Products over Zn₃In₂S₆/ZnS

Abstract

The manipulation of electronic structure and prevention of photogenerated carriers from being quenched in bulk defects during the photocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CRR) have been effectively demonstrated through surface vacancy and defect engineering. In this work, the electronic structure on the surface of Zn3In2S6/ZnS (ZIS/ZnS) is significantly modified by the introduction and control of the surface S vacancies (SV) through Ar-plasma treatment. EPR and XPS analyses confirmed that SV was exclusively present on the ZIS/ZnS surface. The resulting ZIS/ZnS heterojunction photocatalysts demonstrate an impressive 46.6% selectivity toward C2 products even in the absence of cocatalysts. The mechanism of photocatalytic CRR is further elucidated through in situ analysis. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the presence of In and Zn atoms adjacent to SV significantly enhances the adsorption of CO2 and facilitates C–C coupling.

Optimization of Electrochemical Sensitivity in Anticancer Drug Quantification through ZnS@CNS Nanosheets: Synthesis via Accelerated Sonochemical Methodology

“…The peak separation of the peaks at 1022.5 eV and 1045.9 eV in Zn 2p spectrum ( Fig. 2 A) and which was originated from the Zn 2p 3/2 and Zn 2p 1/2 of ZnS [ [27] , [28] ]. In other hand, the S 2p could be deconvoluted into the peaks at 162.5 eV and 163.2 eV, assigned to S 2p 3/2 and S 2p 1/2 of ZnS ( Fig.…”

Photothermal Synergistic Catalysis over Defective Zn3In2S6 for CO2 Fixation

“…27 28 Generally speaking, the formation energy of an anion is lower than that of a cation. 29 Also, Zn 3 In 2 S 6 with abundant S vacancies has also been employed as a building block to construct heterojunction material to induce directional migration of photoexcited carriers. 22,30 Simultaneously, surface-exposed Zn acid centers of Zn 3 In 2 S 6 exhibit strong Lewis acid properties, which are expected to activate and polarize epoxides for the CO 2 cycloaddition process.…”

“…Xia et al found that Zn vacancies in ZnIn 2 S 4 nanosheets optimized CO 2 activation intermediate adsorption energy and thus achieved remarkable faradaic efficiency for CO 2 electroreduction to formate . Generally speaking, the formation energy of an anion is lower than that of a cation . Also, Zn 3 In 2 S 6 with abundant S vacancies has also been employed as a building block to construct heterojunction material to induce directional migration of photoexcited carriers. , …”