The introduction of defects can cause unexpected changes in the physical and chemical properties of materials. As a result, defect engineering has been a versatile tool for developing more efficient photocatalysts in chemical reactions. We have developed a method for controllable introduction of two different types of defects, the disulfide anions (S22-) and the sulfide ion (S2-) vacancies into ZrS3 nanobelts. We found that the S22- and S2- vacancies can be introduced into the nanobelts through two different methods. For S22- vacancies, this involves annealing the ZrS3 nanobelt at high temperature under vacuum conditions. For S2- vacancies, a lithium-based hydrothermal method is used. By varying the annealing time and amount of lithium present, defect engineered ZrS3 material with varying amount of S22- vacancies and S2- vacancies can be obtained. Our research findings show that the S22- vacancies can significantly facilitate the separation of photogenerated charge carriers. Separately, the S2- vacancies not only promote the electron conduction and hole extraction in the photocatalytic process but they also improve the kinetics of the surface oxidation. These two different types of vacancies in the ZrS3 material work together to improve the performance of the photocatalytic reaction.

Controllable surface defect engineering on transition-metal trisulfide (TMT)

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.