Programmed engineering of cadmium sulfide via fibrous coordination polymers for tuning selective photocatalysis

The design and development of photocatalysts capable of precisely regulating the reaction sites in selective systems with multiple active centers remains a central challenge. In this study, selective control over multiple reaction sites was achieved by integrating a zinc coordination polymer (Zn-CP, 1), photoactive semiconductor CdS nanoparticles, and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) to construct CdS@1/PAN composites via electrospinning, followed by an in situ growth strategy, leveraging the synergistic catalytic effect of CPs and CdS nanoparticles. Fiber-based 1/PAN membranes with homogeneous and well-established pre-structural units were fabricated via electrospinning by tuning the relative proportions of PAN and 1. Subsequently, CdS nanoparticles were immobilized on the optimized 1/PAN fibrous framework via an in situ approach to form CdS@1/PAN composites with tunable CdS loadings, while preserving the pristine fibrous structure with periodically and accessibly dispersed catalytically active sites. Consequently, the CdS@1/PAN composites as photocatalysts exhibited effective photocatalytic performance in the selective depolymerization of the lignin model under blue light irradiation. In particular, the CdS_0.09@1/PAN composite, which demonstrated excellent controllability and favorable photoelectrochemical properties, achieved remarkable photocatalytic efficiency in a selective one-step depolymerization process, generating the desired aromatic monomer, acetophenone, and phenol derivatives with high activity.