Abstract
Sulfides are frequently used as photocatalysts, since they absorb visible light better than many oxides. They have the disadvantage of being more easily photocorroded. This occurs mostly in oxidizing conditions; therefore, they are commonly used instead in reduction processes, such as CO2 reduction to fuels or H2 production. Here a summary will be presented of a number of sulfides used in several photocatalytic processes; where appropriate, some recent reviews will be presented of their behaviour. Results obtained in recent years by our group using some octahedral sulfides will be shown, showing how to determine their wavelength-dependent photocatalytic activities, checking their mechanisms in some cases, and verifying how they can be modified to extend their wavelength range of activity. It will be shown here as well how using photocatalytic or photoelectrochemical setups, by combining some enzymes with these sulfides, allows achieving the photo-splitting of water into H2 and O2, thus constituting a scheme of artificial photosynthesis.
Highlights
Photocatalysts are used for many purposes: energy-related applications, fine chemicals synthesis, environment protection, or detection of specific chemicals
The sulfide most studied for photocatalysis is probably CdS, tetrahedrally coordinated
We can state that this was the first time ever in which combining an enzyme and a visible light-sensitive inorganic semiconductor showed ability to generate O2 upon illumination, as it occurs in natural photosynthesis
Summary
Photocatalysts are used for many purposes: energy-related applications, fine chemicals synthesis, environment protection, or detection of specific chemicals. Fe2O3 in the hematite phase (see structure in [20]) has a small mobility of the photogenerated current carriers so that high recombination rates occur unless a very small thickness is used; it is, very actively studied for PEC uses thanks to its convenient bandgap (≈1.9 eV) and especially its abundance. Some other results in photocatalysis by HgS, combined with other phases, are found in [35,36]
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