Coproduction of hydrogen and lactic acid from glucose photocatalysis on band-engineered Zn1-xCdxS homojunction
Heng Zhao,
Chao-Fan Li,
Xue Yong,
Pawan Kumar,
Bruna Palma,
Zhi-Yi Hu,
Gustaaf Van Tendeloo,
Samira Siahrostami,
Stephen Larter,
Dewen Zheng,
Shanyu Wang,
Zhangxin Chen,
Md Golam Kibria,
Jinguang Hu
Affiliations
Heng Zhao
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Chao-Fan Li
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; Nanostructure Research Centre (NRC), Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China
Xue Yong
Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Pawan Kumar
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Bruna Palma
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Zhi-Yi Hu
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; Nanostructure Research Centre (NRC), Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; Corresponding author
Gustaaf Van Tendeloo
Nanostructure Research Centre (NRC), Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China; Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, 171Groenenborgerlaan, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium
Samira Siahrostami
Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Stephen Larter
Department of Geosciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Dewen Zheng
Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED), CNPC, Beijing 100083, China
Shanyu Wang
Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED), CNPC, Beijing 100083, China
Zhangxin Chen
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Md Golam Kibria
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada; Corresponding author
Jinguang Hu
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada; Corresponding author
Summary: Photocatalytic transformation of biomass into value-added chemicals coupled with co-production of hydrogen provides an explicit route to trap sunlight into the chemical bonds. Here, we demonstrate a rational design of Zn1-xCdxS solid solution homojunction photocatalyst with a pseudo-periodic cubic zinc blende (ZB) and hexagonal wurtzite (WZ) structure for efficient glucose conversion to simultaneously produce hydrogen and lactic acid. The optimized Zn0.6Cd0.4S catalyst consists of a twinning superlattice, has a tuned bandgap, and displays excellent efficiency with respect to hydrogen generation (690 ± 27.6 μmol·h−1·gcat.−1), glucose conversion (~90%), and lactic acid selectivity (~87%) without any co-catalyst under visible light irradiation. The periodic WZ/ZB phase in twinning superlattice facilitates better charge separation, while superoxide radical (⋅O2-) and photogenerated holes drive the glucose transformation and water oxidation reactions, respectively. This work demonstrates that rational photocatalyst design could realize an efficient and concomitant production of hydrogen and value-added chemicals from glucose photocatalysis.
