Atomically dispersed bismuth on ZnIn2S4 Dual-Functional photocatalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen production coupled with oxidation of aromatic alcohols to aldehydes

It is of great significance to develop a simple method of non-noble metal atomical dispersion to establish a dual-function photocatalysis system for the oxidation of aromatic alcohols to aldehydes, and to couple it with the photocatalytic hydrogen production, so as to fully utilize the photogenerated carriers. Herein, we report a noble metal-free photocatalyst decorated with atomic dispersed Bi atoms in ZnIn2S4 hierarchical structures by a one-pot method, for selective oxidation of R-PhCH2OH (R = H, Me, OH, Cl) coupled with high H2 evolution. Aberration corrected transmission electron microscopy and theoretical calculations demonstrated that Bi atoms are atomically dispersed and bridged with two S atoms. Atomically dispersed Bi provides the maximum atom efficiency and promotes light absorption to the near-infrared region. By excluding all wasteful sacrificial agents, Bi/ZnIn2S4 exhibits a high hydrogen evolution rate of 3658.8 µmol g-1h−1, which is approximately 14 times of that of bare ZnIn2S4 (256 µmol g-1h−1). This work provides insights into the effective utilization of photogenerated carriers in one system and the designing of promising photocatalysts with atomic precision.