Nearly monodisperse CuInS2 hierarchical microarchitectures for photocatalytic H2 evolution under visible light

An enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalyst, CuInS(2), was prepared by a facile in situ formed template solvothermal route. The products show complex hierarchical architectures assembled from interleaving two-dimensional microcrystals and near monodispersity. It is interesting to see revealed a phase conversion process from binary sulfide to ternary sulfide as well as morphology evolution, investigated by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The involved CuS hierarchitectures form in situ and then act as the self-sacrificed templates, resulting in the obtained CuInS(2) inheriting the hierarchical architectures and monodispersity. More importantly, a much higher average hydrogen yield of 59.4 micromol/h for 1.0 g of photocatalyst under visible light irradiation than in the previously reported results has been attained over the obtained CuInS(2) hierarchitectures loaded with cocatalyst Pt, which may be due to the benefits inheriting from CuS templates such as monodispersity, high surface area, and permeability for providing sufficient visible light response and more reaction sites for photocatalysis in aqueous solution.