Sustainable H2 Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass over MoS2 Modified Sulfur Vacancy Enriched ZnIn2S4 Photocatalyst

Exploring visible-light-responsive photocatalysts for photocatalytic lignocellulosic biomass-to-H2 conversion remains a glamorous but challenging goal because the photogenerated holes cannot directly transfer to biomass owing to the absence of a charge transfer channel. Herein, we design ZnIn2S4 nanosheets with abundant sulfur vacancy (VS-ZnIn2S4) as visible light responsive photocatalysts for photocatalytic H2 production from lignocellulosic biomass in the presence of MoS2 as the cocatalyst. In this smartly designed photocatalysts, the sulfur vacancy in ZnIn2S4 reduces the energy barrier of •OH generation reaction and results in the fast dynamics for the generation of •OH, which acts as the crucial species for the oxygenolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. As expected, the H2 generation rate of the optimized MoS2/VS-ZnIn2S4 photocatalyst in α-cellulose and bamboo powder aqueous solution achieves 1572 and 133 μmol·g–1·h–1, respectively. This study validates the feasibility of sulfur vacancy to boost visible light photocatalytic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into H2 fuel.