Construction of ZnIn2S4–In2O3 Hierarchical Tubular Heterostructures for Efficient CO2 Photoreduction

Abstract

We demonstrate the rational design and construction of sandwich-like ZnIn2S4-In2O3 hierarchical tubular heterostructures by growing ZnIn2S4 nanosheets on both inner and outer surfaces of In2O3 microtubes as photocatalysts for efficient CO2 photoreduction. The unique design integrates In2O3 and ZnIn2S4 into hierarchical one-dimensional (1D) open architectures with double-heterojunction shells and ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) nanosheet subunits. This design accelerates the separation and transfer of photogenerated charges, offers large surface area for CO2 adsorption, and exposes abundant active sites for surface catalysis. Benefiting from the structural and compositional merits, the optimized ZnIn2S4-In2O3 photocatalyst exhibits outstanding performance for reductive CO2 deoxygenation with considerable CO generation rate (3075 μmol h-1 g-1) and high stability.