Hollow Dodecahedral Structure of In<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-In<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> Heterojunction Encapsulated by N-Doped C as an Excellent Visible-Light-Active Photocatalyst for Organic Transformation
Qiuyan Shen, Liming Sun, Yuan Zhuang, Wenwen Zhan, Xiaojun Wang, Xiguang Han
Abstract
The low utilization efficiency in the visible region of the sunlight spectrum and the rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers are two crucial drawbacks that suppress the practical usage of metal oxide semiconductors as photocatalysts. In this article, we report a rational design of In2O3-In2S3 heterojunctions encapsulated by N-doped carbon with a hollow dodecahedral structure (In2O3-In2S3/N-C HDS), which can effectively handle the two drawbacks of metal oxide semiconductors and behave active for organic transformation under the irradiation of visible light even with long wavelengths. As exemplified by the selective oxidative coupling reaction of amine to imine, the obtained In2O3-In2S3/N-C HDS as the photocatalyst has exhibited excellent activity and stability. Experimental and density functional theory studies have verified that the excellent performance of In2O3-In2S3/N-C HDS can be attributed to the synergistic effect of In2O3-In2S3 heterojunctions, the coating of N-doped carbon, and the hollow porous structure with nanosheets as subunits.