Highly stable and durable ZnInS nanosheets wrapped oxygen deficient blue TiO(B) catalyst for selective CO photoreduction into CO and CH.

Developing new and highly stable efficient photocatalysts is crucial for achieving high performance and selective photocatalytic CO conversion. In this paper, we designed a one-dimensional oxygen-deficient blue TiO(B) (BT) catalyst for improved electron mobility and visible light accessibility. In addition, hexagonal ZnInS (ZIS) nanosheets with a low bandgap and great visible light accessibility are employed to produce effective heterostructures with BT. The synthesized materials are tested for photocatalytic conversion of CO into solar fuels (H, CO and CH). The optimized composite yields 71.6 and 10.3 μmol gh of CO and CH, three and ten times greater than ZIS, respectively. When ZIS nanosheets are combined with a one-dimensional oxygen-deficient BT catalyst, improved electron mobility and visible light accessibility are achieved, charge carriers are effectively segregated, and the transfer process is accelerated, resulting in efficient CO reduction. The photocatalytic CO conversion activity of the constructed BT/ZIS heterostructures is very stable over a 10-day (240-hour) period, and CO and CH production rates increase linearly with time; however, as time goes on, the rates of H production decrease. Further, a five-time recycling test confirmed this, revealing essentially equal activity and selectivity throughout the experiment. As a result, CO to CO and CH conversion has high selectivity and longer durability. The band structure of the BT/ZIS composite is determined using Mott-Schottky measurement, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and valence band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This research demonstrates a novel approach to investigating effective, stable, and selective photocatalytic CO reduction systems for solar-to-chemical energy conversion.