Low temperature synthesis of ZnIn2S4 microspheres as a visible light photocatalyst for selective oxidation

ZnIn2S4 microspheres have been synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method at 80 °C. The characterization results show that the as-synthesized sample is hexagonal phase ZnIn2S4 microspheres. The results of elemental mapping and thermogravimetric confirm that the sample is the pure ZnIn2S4. The ZnIn2S4 sample has been first used as visible-light-driven photocatalyst for selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde under ambient conditions, which shows the conversion is ca. 69% along with the high selectivity, ca. 94%, after 3 h irradiation. XRD and XPS investigations suggest that ZnIn2S4 is relatively stable in the photocatalytic reaction.