Understanding the Role of Dual Zinc and Indium Vacancies in ZnIn 2 S 4 for the Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Air-Oxidation of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

Defect engineering is an effective strategy to enhance the photocatalytic performance of ZnIn2S4 (ZIS), but it remains a formidable challenge to manipulate the cationic defects in the catalyst because of their high formation energies. Herein, dual Zn and In defects have been successfully created in the ZnIn2S4 (ZIS-5) with a facile cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC)-assisted hydrothermal method. The resulting ZIS-5, rich in cation vacancies, achieved a 3.6-fold higher 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF) yield (92.0%) than the pristine ZIS (25.8%) for the visible-light-driven photocatalytic air-oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Especially, ZIS-5 delivers a high DFF productivity of 1600 μmol g–1 h–1,…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 22468027, 22208137
• YP
  Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department

  Awards: 202301AV070005, 202401AT070337