Synthesis of Mn-doped hollow octahedron ZnIn₂S₄ to enhance photocatalytic hydrogen production performance utilizing metal-organic framework as template

Designing semiconductor photocatalysts with unique structures can improve the transfer efficiency of solar energy to hydrogen (H₂). In this study, a dual modification method of element doping and morphological control was used. The Mn-doped hollow octahedron ZnIn₂S₄ (ZHO-Mn) was synthesized by a simple one-pot solvothermal method using the octahedral Mn-based metal-organic framework (Mn-MOF) as a template. Experiments and theoretical calculations show that the ZHO-Mn has additional active sites, strong light absorption ability and good photoelectric performance. The H₂ production performance of optimized ZHO-Mn10 was the best (11.9 mmol h^-1 g^-1), which was 7.4 times that of monomer ZnIn₂S₄ (1.6 mmol h^-1 g^-1). This study provides a new one-step method for the dual control of doping and morphology of ZnIn₂S₄ photocatalyst.