S‑Scheme Photocatalyst NH₂–UiO-66/CuZnS with Enhanced Photothermal-Assisted CO₂ Reduction Performances

Green and mild sunlight-driven photocatalysis has emerged as a promising technology for mitigating climate- and energy-related issues. In CO2 reduction reactions, metal–organic framework (MOF) materials are often compounded with inorganic semiconductor ZnS to form S-scheme photocatalysts that facilitate effective charge migration and separation across the composite interface. However, the large bandwidth of unmodified or modified ZnS remains a major hurdle in achieving efficient photocatalytic reactions. Therefore, this study aimed to reduce the band gap width of ZnS by incorporating Cu-doped ZnS(en)0.5 (CuZnS) as the inorganic semiconductor substrate and NH2–UiO-66 as the organometallic framework material to prepare NH2–UiO-66/CuZnS composite photocatalysts, ultimately realizing a thermally assisted photocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction. With the help of photothermal conversion from CuZnS, the temperature of CO2 reduction increased to 54.2 °C, resulting in a fast kinetic showing an improved yield of 22.85 μmol g–1 h–1 via the photocatalytic route

Epitaxial Growth of Aligned and Continuous Carbon Nanofibers from Carbon Nanotubes

Exploiting the superior properties of nanomaterials at macroscopic scale is a key issue of nanoscience. Different from the integration strategy, “additive synthesis” of macroscopic structures from nanomaterial templates may be a promising choice. In this paper, we report the epitaxial growth of aligned, continuous, and catalyst-free carbon nanofiber thin films from carbon nanotube films. The fabrication process includes thickening of continuous carbon nanotube films by gas-phase pyrolytic carbon deposition and further graphitization of the carbon layer by high-temperature treatment. As-fabricated nanofibers in the film have an “annual ring” cross-section, with a carbon nanotube core and a graphitic periphery, indicating the templated growth mechanism. The absence of a distinct interface between the carbon nanotube template and the graphitic periphery further implies the epitaxial growth mechanism of the fiber. The mechanically robust thin film with tunable fiber diameters from tens of nanometers to several micrometers possesses low density, high electrical conductivity, and high thermal conductivity. Further extension of this fabrication method to enhance carbon nanotube yarns is also demonstrated, resulting in yarns with ∼4-fold increased tensile strength and ∼10-fold increased Young’s modulus. The aligned and continuous features of the films together with their outstanding physical and chemical properties would certainly promote the large-scale applications of carbon nanofibers