As an inexpensive bimetallic sulfide
with a narrow band gap, Cu3SnS4 has been widely
used in solar-energy-driven
catalytic reactions. However, the traditional tetragonal Cu3SnS4 has the inherent defect of fewer surface active sites
and poor photogenerated carrier transport performance, which requires
further modification to improve the CO2 photocatalytic
reduction performance of tetragonal Cu3SnS4.
In this work, the Cu3SnS4/CeO2 binary
composites with dual redox pairs of Ce4+/Ce3+ and Cu2+/Cu+ were successfully designed and
prepared via a simple solvothermal method as a bridge for the synthesis
of composite materials. A series of characterizations, such as X-ray
diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), photocurrent
(PC), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), etc., have confirmed
that dual redox pairs and heterojunction synergistically improve the
photochemical properties of hybrid Cu3SnS4/CeO2. Because of the unique three-dimensional/zero-dimensional
(3D/0D) hierarchical structure of Cu3SnS4/CeO2, the splendid light absorption characteristic of Cu3SnS4 was retained, and the specific surface area of CC1
composite was improved. In addition, the water static contact angle
experiments showed that the hydrophilicity of composites is inhibited.
As a consequence, the fabricated CC1 composite with dual redox pairs
acquires CO evolution that is 2.63 times greater than that observed
for pristine Cu3SnS4. The innovative study will
provide a feasible orientation for the field of solar energy-driven
CO2 reduction reaction.