Nanostructured Metal Sulfides: Classification, Modification Strategy, and Solar‐Driven CO₂ Reduction Application

Abstract

Solar‐driven conversion of CO2 into high value‐added fuels is expected to be an environmental‐friendly and sustainable approach for relieving the greenhouse gas effect and countering energy crisis. Metal sulfide semiconductors with wide photoresponsive range and favorable band structures are suitable photocatalysts for CO2 photoreduction. This review summarizes the recent progress on metal sulfide semiconductors for photocatalytic CO2 reduction. First, the fundamentals, mechanisms and some principles, like product selectivity, of photocatalytic CO2 reduction are introduced. Then, according to the elemental composition, the metal sulfide photocatalysts applied for CO2 reduction are classified into binary (CdS, ZnS, MoS2, SnS2, Bi2S3, In2S3,Cu2S, NiS/NiS2, and CoS2), ternary (ZnIn2S4, CdIn2S4, CuInS2, Cu3SnS4, and CuGaS2), and quaternary (Cu2ZnSnS4) systems, in which their crystal structures, photochemical characteristics, and photocatalytic CO2 reduction applications are systematically demonstrated. Especially, the diverse modification strategies for improving the activity and product selectivity of photocatalytic CO2 reduction on these metal sulfides are summarized. Finally, the current challenges and future directions for the development of metal sulfide photocatalysts for CO2 reduction are proposed. This review is expected to serve as a powerful reference for exploiting high‐efficiency metal sulfide photocatalysts for CO2 conversion and furthering related mechanism understanding.

Tuning the Electronic Bandgap of Graphdiyne by H‐Substitution to Promote Interfacial Charge Carrier Separation for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

“…Type II heterostructured photocatalysts that possess adequate band alignment between two semiconductors are demonstrated to spatially separate the photogenerated charge carriers for highly efficient water reduction and oxidation to achieve water splitting. [29,30] Thus, tuning the electronic bandgap of GDY, to fabricate such a type II heterostructure, represents a great potential for developing highperformance photocatalysts.…”

Construction of Bi2S3/TiO2/MoS2 S‐Scheme Heterostructure with a Switchable Charge Migration Pathway for Selective CO2 Reduction

“…[ 21 ] MoS 2 and Bi 2 S 3 are considered desirable catalysts or cocatalysts in the photocatalytic system due to their morphology tuning and low bandgaps, which improve their light harvesting, optical properties, and charge mechanism transfer. [ 13,22–29 ]…”

“…Semiconducting metal oxide and sulfide photocatalysts were regarded as the most efficient approaches among the other methods of CO 2 reduction. [6,[12][13][14] TiO 2 is a typical semiconductor photocatalyst that can be formed in three different crystal phases: anatase, rutile, and brookite, [4,15] where the anatase phase has been frequently used for CO 2 reduction due to its stability and morphological calibration. [16][17][18][19][20] The large bandgap of TiO 2 limits the absorbance of the full light spectrum because it absorbs only light in the UV region.…”

“…[21] MoS 2 and Bi 2 S 3 are considered desirable catalysts or cocatalysts in the photocatalytic system due to their morphology tuning and low bandgaps, which improve their light harvesting, optical properties, and charge mechanism transfer. [13,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Multidimensional structure architecture results in a higher surface area and optimal interfacial interaction of semiconducting photocatalysts, contributing to higher photocatalytic efficiency by accelerating electron and hole transportation, and impeding their recombination. [11,24,[30][31][32] The conversion of CO 2 to a specific product is highly desirable for energy conversion.…”

The Synthesis of Protein‐Encapsulated Ceria Nanorods for Visible‐Light Driven Hydrogen Production and Carbon Dioxide Reduction

“…Over the past few years, extensive research efforts have been devoted to the design of suitable hybrid catalysts for the effective execution of this catalytic process. Several examples based on earth abundant (e.g., Co, Ni, Mn, and Cu), [ 2–5 ] noble (e.g., Au, Ag, Pd, Ir, and Ru), [ 6–10 ] main group metals, (e.g., Sn, Pb, In, and Bi) [ 11–14 ] and their hybrids [ 15 ] have been reported to possess the photocatalytic performance for water splitting, organic degradation and transformation as well as photocatalytic conversion of CO 2 . Among them, rare earth (RE) nanomaterials have been emerging as cost‐effective catalytic materials because of their unique catalytic activities towards a range of important reactions.…”