Recent updates on cadmium indium sulfide (CdIn₂S₄ or CIS) photo-catalyst: Synthesis, enhancement strategies and applications

Photocatalytic technology harnesses solar energy to address the global energy crisis while offering sustainable solutions for environmental applications. Among emerging photocatalysts, Cadmium indium sulfide (CdIn₂S₄ or CIS) stands out due to its excellent visible light absorption, optimal bandgap, non-toxicity, durability, notable catalytic efficiency, and tunable morphology, making it an appealing candidate for diverse photocatalytic applications. The intrinsic electronic, chemical, physical, and optical properties of CIS nanomaterials are highly tunable, rendering them promising candidates for diverse photocatalytic applications. However, CIS has undergone extensive modifications and optimization to attain excellent photocatalytic activity. The crystalline properties and basic photocatalytic mechanism were deliberated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This review provides a comprehensive insight into numerous modification techniques of CIS, including doping, surface defects, metal deposition, carbon loading and heterojunction formation, with effective activity of CIS-based heterojunction. Subsequently, the CIS-based photocatalysts for photocatalytic degradation, photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide, hydrogen evolution and hydrogen peroxide production applications from the previous five years will be examined and concluded with an eye toward the future. This review offers an in-depth and critical analysis of these aspects, demonstrating a perspective not previously presented.