Short communicationTetragonal β-In2S3: Partial ordering of In3 + vacancy and visible-light photocatalytic activities in both water and nitrate reduction

•A highly crystallized tetragonal β-In2S3 exhibits a partial ordering of In3 + vacancy.•It contained flower-like spherical particles, further composed of very thin petals.•Tetragonal β-In2S3 has an intrinsic photocatalytic water reduction activity.•The optimal H2 evolution rate was 442 μmol/h/g under pure visible light irradiation.•Nitrate conversion rate achieved 3.26 mg N/h under the irradiation of a Xe lamp.

A highly crystallized tetragonal β-In2S3 was synthesized with a partial ordering of In3 + vacancy confirmed by Rietveld refinements, which was therefore considered as an intermediate phase between conversional cubic and tetragonal β-In2S3. Benefiting from the high crystallinity and hierarchical morphology, it exhibited an intrinsic visible light photocatalytic activity in both water and nitrate reduction. The optimized H2 evolution rate was 442 μmol/h/g and the nitrate conversion rate was as high as 3.26 mg N/h. Apparent quantum yields of water splitting were also studied from 400 to 650 nm with an optimal value of 1.45% at 400 nm.

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