A zinc-based oxysulfide photocatalyst SrZn2S2O capable of reducing and oxidizing water.

Although Zn-based binary semiconductors such as ZnO and ZnS are photocatalytically unstable toward water oxidation, we found that mixed-anionization successfully addressed this issue. This report shows that an oxysulfide SrZn2S2O functions as a photocatalyst to reduce and oxidize water under band-gap irradiation without noticeable decomposition of the material.