Construction of ZnO/Zn3In2S6/Pt with integrated S-scheme/Schottky heterojunctions for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and bisphenol a degradation

Photocatalytic water splitting has been identified as a promising solution to tackle the current environmental and energy crisis in the world. However, the challenge of this green technology is the inefficient separation and utilization of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in photocatalysts. To overcome this challenge in one system, a ternary ZnO/Zn3In2S6/Pt material was prepared as a photocatalyst using a stepwise hydrothermal process and in-situ photoreduction deposition. The integrated S-scheme/Schottky heterojunction in the constructed ZnO/Zn3In2S6/Pt photocatalyst enabled it to exhibit efficient photoexcited charge separation/transfer. The evolved H2 reached up to 3.5 mmol g-1h-1. Meanwhile, the ternary composite possessed a high cyclic stability against photo-corrosion under irradiation. Practically, the ZnO/Zn3In2S6/Pt photocatalyst also showed great potential for H2 evolution while simultaneously degrading organic contaminants like bisphenol A. It is hoped in this work that the incorporation of Schottky junctions and S-scheme heterostructures in the construction of photocatalysts would lead to accelerated electron transfer and high photoinduced electron-hole pair separation, respectively, to synergistically enhance the performance of photocatalysts.