Dodecahedral hollow multi-shelled Co3O4/Ag:ZnIn2S4 photocatalyst for enhancing solar energy utilization efficiency

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 14; no. 9; pp. 6205 - 6215
• Main Authors: Liang, Zhiman, Bobo Bai, Wang, Xiufang, Gao, Yu, Li, Yi, Bu, Qiuhui, Fu, Ding, Sun, Yaguang, Xu, Zhenhe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 19.02.2024; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Charge transfer; Chemistry; Cobalt oxides; Current carriers; Degradation; Dyes; Energy utilization; Heterojunctions; Hydrogen production; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Redox reactions; Solar energy
• ISSN: 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/d3ra08425f

Employing semiconductor photocatalysts featuring a hollow multi-shelled (HoMs) structure to establish a heterojunction is an effective approach to addressing the issues of low light energy utilization and severe recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. To take advantage of these key factors in semiconductor photocatalysis, here, a dodecahedral HoMs Co3O4/Ag:ZnIn2S4 photocatalyst (denoted as Co3O4/AZIS) was firstly synthesized by coupling Ag+-doped ZnIn2S4 (AZIS) nanosheets with dodecahedral HoMs Co3O4. The unique HoMs structure of the photocatalyst can not only effectively promote the separation and transfer of photo-induced charge, but also improve the utilization rate of visible light, exposing rich active sites for the photocatalytic redox reaction. The photocatalytic experiment results showed that the Co3O4/90.0 wt% AZIS photocatalyst has a high hydrogen (H2) production rate (695.0 μmol h−1 g−1) and high methyl orange (MO) degradation rate (0.4243 min−1). This work provides a feasible strategy for the development of HoMs heterojunction photocatalysts with enhanced H2 production and degradation properties of organic dyes.