A facile route to (ZnS)x(CuInS2)1−x hierarchical microspheres with excellent water-splitting ability

Yuhan Lin; Fang Zhang; Daocheng Pan

doi:10.1039/C2JM35166H

A facile route to (ZnS)_x(CuInS₂)_1−x hierarchical microspheres with excellent water-splitting ability†

Yuhan Lin,^a Fang Zhang*^b and Daocheng Pan*^a

* Corresponding authors

^a State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun 130022, China
E-mail: pan@ciac.jl.cn
Fax: +86 431 85685653
Tel: +86 431 85262941

^b The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
E-mail: zhangfang@shnu.edu.cn
Fax: +86 21 64322642
Tel: +86 21 64322272

Abstract

A series of (ZnS)_x(CuInS₂)_1−x hierarchical micro/nano-structured solid solutions with precisely controlled chemical composition were synthesized via a facile one-pot solvothermal method. ZnO, Cu₂O, and In(OH)₃ are used as the starting materials and dissolved in ethanol dithiocarbamic acid which is formed from CS₂ and ethanolamine in situ. The ethanol dithiocarbamic acid not only serves as a thermally-degradable ligand, but also acts as sulfur source during synthesis, and can be completely removed by a simple calcination process. As-prepared (ZnS)_x(CuInS₂)_1−x microspheres have a hierarchical micro/nano structure composed of around 7 nm nanoparticles. These samples show excellent photocatalytic H₂ evolution activity under visible-light irradiation without any noble metal loading owing to their high surface area (as high as 101.6 m² g⁻¹) and unique hierarchical structure.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C2JM35166H
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 02 Aug 2012
Accepted: 04 Sep 2012
First published: 07 Sep 2012

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J. Mater. Chem., 2012,22, 22619-22623

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A facile route to (ZnS)_x(CuInS₂)_1−x hierarchical microspheres with excellent water-splitting ability

Y. Lin, F. Zhang and D. Pan, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 22619 DOI: 10.1039/C2JM35166H

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Journal of Materials Chemistry