Description
Optimizing the activity of photocatalysts is of great interest towards realizing the transition to greener energy sources. Unlike photovoltaics, which converts sunlight into electrical energy, photocatalysts directly use sunlight for waste water treatment or the synthesis of so-called solar fuels and reactants for chemical reactions.[1,2] Heterogeneous catalysts offer advantages like easy handling and recyclability. However, such heterogeneous catalysts commonly show the problem of very low surface-area. Moreover, thin films show great potential to incorporate them into flow reactors. Therefore, we applied a single source precursor method using metal xanthates for the synthesis of the established photocatalyst zinc indium sulfide as structured thin films. Zinc indium sulfide has a tunable band gap from 2.0 to 2.8 eV, and all its polymorphs are reported to induce water splitting and dye degradation under visible light.[3] We prepared hierarchically porous zinc indium sulfide thin films combining microsphere lithography [4,5] with the xanthate conversion to the metal sulfide.6 This provided macropores in the 300 nm regime and micropores around 1.6 nm, greatly enhancing the available surface area. Furthermore, we showed a 3.3 - fold increase in specific photocatalytic activity compared to the bulk films in the photodegradation of Rhodamine B. These results can help to optimize the photocatalytic activity of metal sulfide thin films by introducing multiscale porosity| Period | 27 May 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event title | EMRS Spring Meeting 2024 |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Strasbourg, FranceShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |
Keywords
- metal sulfides
- photocatalysis
- xanthates
- SAXS
- Electron Microscopy