LAUSR

Abstract Facing the requirement of modern industrial development, selective reduction of 4-nitroaniline (4-NA) into p-phenylenediamine (PPD) via a facile, economic and eco-friendly photocatalysis technique has attracted more and more attention in recent years. In this study, ZnIn 2 S 4 (ZIS) nanosheets grew in-situ on the surface of TiO 2 hollowspheres through a hydrothermal method and formed a direct Z-scheme heterojunction composite, which exhibited exceedingly better photocatalytic 4-NA reduction performance than bare ZIS and TiO 2 . Such enhancement was mainly attributed to the dissimilar dimensionalities, intimate contact, and matchable band edge positions between ZIS and TiO 2 semiconductors. Moreover, the substantial mechanism for the photocatalytic reaction in the ZIS/TiO 2 system was reasonably proposed. Inspired by recent applications of the Z-scheme heterostructured materials in solar energy conversion and artificial photosynthesis, this work would arouse an increasing interest in designing more Z-scheme photocatalyst systems with high efficiency and extensive applications.