Hollow multi-shelled In2S3 hierarchical nanotubes for enhanced photocatalytic oxidative coupling of benzylamine

Abstract

The unique structural features of the hollow and hierarchical structures give light to the developing categories of photocatalysts as a promising way to deal with the challenges involved in the process of heterogeneous photocatalysis. Herein, hollow multi-shelled In2S3 hierarchical nanotubes have been fabricated using NH2-MIL-68 (In) as template and TAA. The results demonstrated that hollow multi-shelled In2S3 hierarchical nanotubes has been used as an efficient photocatalyst for the coupling of benzylamines under visible light irradiation and aerobic or anaerobic conditions, which burst out of the shackles of the reported reaction conditions. And the conversion and selectivity reached 74% and 99%, respectively. The hierarchical structure with nanosheet on the surface of hollow multi-shelled nanotube have effectively promote the mass transfer and photogenerated carrier separation, increasing the number of reactive points. Then, it also has proved that the hole (h+), the nitrogen-centered radical cations as well as the carbon-centered radicals were most important in the reaction. This work provides a novel concept for further design of unique structural photocatalyst for boosting the catalytic activity.