Photothermally accelerated photocatalysis over hollow carbon@ZnIn2S4 for enhanced amine oxidation

Abstract

Efficient solar energy utilization has attracted increasing interest in the past few decades. Compared to solo photocatalysis, by which only a limited amount of solar light can be used, photothermal catalysis has recently emerged as an effective way of solar energy utilization. Herein, we report a hollow nitrogen doped carbon@ZnIn₂S₄ (HNC@ZIS) as a cost-effective catalyst for photothermally accelerated photocatalysis. Due to the black color and hollow structure, HNC absorbs a wide range of solar light and converts it to heat, which facilitates the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, due to the formation of an electric near-field, promoted separation and transfer of charge carriers were achieved in HNC@ZIS. As a result, HNC@ZIS exhibits obviously enhanced photocatalytic amine oxidation as compared to ZIS. The merging of low cost carbon materials with semiconductors for a cooperative photothermal process/photocatalysis delivers an effective strategy for the design of economic catalysts for light mediated catalysis to realize efficient solar light utilization.