One Stone Two Birds: Utilization of Solar Light for Simultaneous Selective Phenylcarbinol Oxidation and H2 Production over 0D/2D-3D Pt/In2S3 Schottky Junction

Abstract

Precise regulation and control solar-light-driven charges photoexcited on photocatalysts for separation-transfer and target redox reactions is an attractive and challenging pathway toward sustainability. Herein, 0D/2D-3D Pt/In2S3 Schottky junction was fabricated for simultaneous selective phenylcarbinol conversion into value-added aldehydes and production of clean energy H2 by directly utilizing photoexcited holes and electrons in one reaction system under mild reaction conditions. In contrast to pure water splitting and pure In2S3, the reaction thermodynamics and kinetics of H2 evolution on the Pt/In2S3 were significantly enhanced. The optimized 0.3% Pt/In2S3 exhibited the highest and most stable photocatalytic activity with 22.1 mmol g−1 h−1 of H2 production rate and almost 100% selectivity of benzaldehyde production. Notably, this dual-function photocatalysis also exhibited superiority in contrast to sacrificial-agent H2 evolution reactions such as lactic acid, Na2S, methanol and triethanolamine. The turnover frequency (TOF) could reach up to ~2394 h−1. The Pt clusters anchored at the electron location and strong metal-support interactions (SMSI) between Pt and In2S3 synergistically improved the spatial charge separation and directional transportation (~90.1% of the charge transport efficiency could be achieved over the Pt/In2S3 hybrid), and thus result in significant enhancement of photocatalytic H2 evolution with simultaneous benzaldehyde production.