In situ synthesis of hierarchical In2S3–graphene nanocomposite photocatalyst for selective oxidation

Abstract

We report a simple, in situ hydrothermal way to fabricate In₂S₃–graphene (GR) nanocomposites in which hierarchical In₂S₃ “petals” spread over the surface of GR sheets in virtue of the “structure directing” role of graphene oxide (GO) as the precursor of GR in a solution phase. With the addition of an appropriate amount of GO, the hierarchical petal-like In₂S₃ structures have been successfully grown on the two-dimensional (2D) GR “mat”. The as-synthesized In₂S₃–GR nanocomposites featuring good interfacial contact exhibit much higher photocatalytic activity toward selective oxidation of alcohols under visible light irradiation than blank In₂S₃. A series of characterization results disclose that the significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance of In₂S₃–GR nanocomposites can be ascribed to the integrative effect of the increased separation and transfer efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs and the larger surface area. This work highlights the wide scope of fabricating GR-based semiconductor nanocomposites with specific architectural morphology by rationally utilizing the “structure directing” property of GO and extending their applications toward photocatalytic selective transformations.