RETRACTED: Creating zinc vacancy within 3D hierarchical ZnIn2S4 particles for boosted photocatalytic performance towards H2 evolution reaction

Abstract

Zinc atomic vacancies were created within ZnIn 2 S 4 particles by reactive ion etching (RIE). The as-prepared ZnIn 2 S 4 particles exhibited a flower-like 3D hierarchical structure. Zn vacancies had significant impacts on the S chemical environment but had little impact on the In chemical environment. The cubic crystal phase of ZnIn 2 S 4 was not affected by the Zn vacancies, while the bandgap of ZnIn 2 S 4 was gradually decreased with the increased concentration of Zn vacancies. The ZnIn 2 S 4 particles with the optimal Zn vacancy concentration exhibited an enhanced photocatalytic H 2 evolution rate, which is 2.7 times of the bare ZnIn 2 S 4 . The stability of the optimized ZnIn 2 S 4 photocatalyst was tested. Nyquist plots and transient photocurrent plots demonstrated that, the existence of Zn vacancies resulted in a decreased charge carrier transfer resistance and an increased charge separation rate. The radical trapping experiments proved that, superoxide was the crucial active species during the photocatalytic reaction.