Dual-functional photocatalysts for simultaneous H ₂ production and biomass conversion Mahmoud Hamza 1,2 , Gregory F. Metha 1 , Cameron J. Shearer 1 1 Department of Chemistry, School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, 2 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Ain-Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt Semiconductor-assisted photocatalysis is one of the sustainable and eco-friendly technologies for hydrogen (H 2 ) production, where H 2 is a promising substitute for non-renewable fossil fuels. 1 CdIn 2 S 4 (CIS), is an exciting photocatalytic material because of its high visible light harvesting capacity and tunable band gap (2.0-2.4 eV). 2 However, the main drawback of CIS photocatalysts is rapid electron-hole recombination. The incorporation of metal atoms/ions can enhance the photocatalytic performance of CIS. 3 Herein, we focused on the fabrication of ultrathin CIS nanosheets via a facile hydrothermal method with in- situ deposition of Ru atoms to enhance the optical properties and photocatalytic performance of CIS toward the photocatalytic H 2 production in the presence of a biomass intermediate, Furfuryl alcohol (F-OH), as a hole scavenger, Figure 1a . The results showed the successful synthesis of CIS nanosheets ( Figure 1b ) with the typical cubic crystalline structure ( Figure 1c ). Besides, the results showed the positive effect of the dispersion of Ru on the CIS to shift the absorption edge of CIS and further enhance its absorbance in the visible region ( Figure 1d ). Additionally, about 6:43-fold enhancement was achieved in the x%Ru-CIS samples where the 1%Ru-CIS sample achieved a H 2 production rate of 2781 μmol g -1 h -1 compared to the bare CIS nanosheets that achieved 65 μmol g -1 h -1 ( Figure 1e ). Finally, the selective oxidation of Furfuryl alcohol (F-OH) to Furfural (F-CHO was achieved with high conversion % (~60%) and ~ 100 selectivity% where the F-CHO production rate of ~409 μmol g -1 h -1 . Hence, these outstanding results showed the synergetic effect of Ru atoms to enhance the optical absorbance and photocatalytic performance of CIS nanosheets via improving the optical absorbance, enhancing the charge separation, and consequently, augmenting the H 2 production rates. References
1. M. A. Hamza , A. N. El-shazly, S. A. Tolba and N. K. Allam, Chem. Eng. J. , 2020, 384 , 123351. 2. W. K. Chong, B. J. Ng, L. L. Tan and S. P. Chai, Energy and Fuels , 2022, 36 , 4250–4267. 3. X. Bai, W. Wu and H. Lv, IOP Conf. Ser. Mater. Sci. Eng. , 2020, 735 , 012041.
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