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Photocatalytic nitrogen fixation over flower-like molecular cobalt phthalocyanine@ZnIn2S4 heterojunctions under visible-light irradiation

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Abstract

Molecular catalysts (such as metal phthalocyanine (Pc) molecules) have been widely utilized in homogeneous catalytic systems. However, its practical application is still hindered by the weak stability and difficulty to recycle molecular catalysts from the homogeneous solution. An attractive strategy was adopted by combining the molecular Pc catalysts with an inorganic semiconductor, which can solve the recycling issue and improve the photo-induced charge separation simultaneously. Herein, we integrated a molecular Pc catalyst and a spiky-like ZnIn2S4 to conduct the photocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (PNRR). The spiky-like composites of ZnIn2S4@Pc demonstrated superior PNRR activity without any sacrificial hole capture (156.59 µmol g−1 h−1), which is contributed by the enhanced light harvesting and charge separation induced by the dimension-matched combination.

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Acknowledgements

This research was made possible as a result of a generous grant from Jilin youth growth science and technology plan project (20220508019RC), “Interdisciplinary integration and innovation” project of Jilin University in 2021 (JLUXKJC2021QZ06), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21901084, 21905106, and 21871104) and the 111 Project (B17020), Jilin Provincial Science & Technology Department (20220101060GC, 20220101057GC, 20200401126GX, 20200301013RQ and 20190303039SF), Key Science and Technology R&D Projects of Jilin Province (2020C023–3), Program of Jilin University Science and Technology Innovative Research Team (2020TD-03), and XYZ Foundation (Grant Number 123567).

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  1. Ping She and Xiuyan Wang have contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, International Center of Future Science, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Ping She, Tengfei Bao, Hongbang Rui, Yuanyuan Qi, Heng Rao & Jun-Sheng Qin

  2. Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Ministry of Education), College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, People’s Republic of China

    Xiuyan Wang & Hang Sun

  3. Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry of Jilin Province, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Ping She

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  1. Ping She
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Contributions

The original idea was conceived by HR, HS, and PS; Experiments and data analysis were performed by PS and XW; characterization was performed by PS, XW, TB, HR, and YQ; the manuscript was drafted by PS and XW, TB, HR, YQ, and J-SQ.

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Correspondence to Heng Rao or Hang Sun.

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She, P., Wang, X., Bao, T. et al. Photocatalytic nitrogen fixation over flower-like molecular cobalt phthalocyanine@ZnIn2S4 heterojunctions under visible-light irradiation. J Mater Sci 58, 8731–8741 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08576-3

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