Facet Engineering-Induced Construction of Ni 2 P/ZnIn 2 S 4 Heterostructures for Boosted Photocatalytic CO 2 Reduction.

Facet engineering was realized to enhance the CO 2 photoreduction performance of the Ni 2 P/ZnIn 2 S 4 heterostructure, in which the commonly exposed (1 0 2) face of ZnIn 2 S 4 was converted to the (1 0 1) face due to the unique properties of the phosphide. The variation in the crystal plane strengthened the intense interfacial contact between Ni 2 P and ZnIn 2 S 4 , resulting in the promotion of utilization and absorption efficiency for incident light and boosting the surface reaction rate. Combined with the significant metallicity of Ni 2 P, inhibited recombination and strengthened transfer efficiency were achieved, leading to an obvious enhancement of photoreduction activity over Ni 2 P/ZnIn 2 S 4 compared to pure samples. In particular, the optimal NZ7 composite (the mass ratio of Ni 2 P to ZnIn 2 S 4 ) reached 68.31 μmol h -1 g -1 of CH 4 , 10.65 μmol h -1 g -1 of CH 3 OH, and 11.15 μmol h -1 g -1 of HCOOH. The mechanism of the CO 2 photoreduction process was elucidated using ESR and in situ DRIFTS techniques.