Hierarchical CuS@ZnInS Hollow Double-Shelled p-n Heterojunction Octahedra Decorated with Fullerene C for Remarkable Selectivity and Activity of CO Photoreduction into CH.

In this work, a hollow double-shelled architecture, based on n-type ZnInS nanosheet-coated p-type CuS hollow octahedra (CuS@ZnInS HDSOs), is designed and fabricated as a p-n heterojunction photocatalyst for selective CO photoreduction into CH. The resulting hybrids provide rich active sites and effective charge migration/separation to drive CO photoreduction, and meanwhile, CO detachment is delayed to increase the possibility of eight-electron reactions for CH production. As expected, the optimized CuS@ZnInS HDSOs manifest a CH yield of 28.0 μmol g h and a boosted CH selectivity up to 94.5%. The decorated C both possesses high electron affinity and improves catalyst stability and CO adsorption ability. Thus, the C-decorated CuS@ZnInS HDSOs exhibit the highest CH evolution rate of 43.6 μmol g h and 96.5% selectivity. This work provides a rational strategy for designing and fabricating efficient heteroarchitectures for CO photoreduction.