Construction of hierarchical ZnIn2S4@PCN-224 heterojunction for boosting photocatalytic performance in hydrogen production and degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride

As a typical member of sulfide family, ZnIn2S4 bears impressive activity in photocatalysis. Nonetheless, egregious recombination of photo-excited electron and hole pairs confines its practical usage. In this study, PCN-224, a metal organic framework (MOF) composed of porphyrin linkers and Zr clusters, is employed to establish a novel hierarchical structured ZnIn2S4@PCN-224 via a solvothermal method. These as-prepared composites are further evaluated by visible-light-driven photocatalysis and able to present steady performance. The optimized ZnIn2S4@PCN-224 has a hydrogen production rate of 0.284 mmol h-1 in absence of Pt, higher than many contrastive ZnIn2S4-based photocatalysts even in assistance of Pt cocatalyst. Besides, it is able to dominate the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH), giving 99.9 % pollutant removal within 60 min, about 4.7 times higher than that catalyzed by ZnIn2S4. It is supposed that the great improvement in photocatalysis is ascribable to the establishment of Z-scheme junction between ZnIn2S4 and PCN-224.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates the synthesis of a hierarchical structured ZnIn2S4@PCN-224 composite, which shows enhanced photocatalytic activity and stable performance under visible-light irradiation. The establishment of a Z-scheme junction between ZnIn2S4 and PCN-224 contributes to the significant improvement in photocatalysis.