Driven by the necessity of a sustainable living of future generations, semiconductor-based photocatalysis gained increasing attention in various research fields like green energy conversion or pollutant degradation. Neat semiconductors are often found to be rather inactive due to insufficient valence/conduction band potentials, short carrier lifetime and mobility, demanding noble metal cocatalysts and/or heterojunctions with other semiconductors. A famous example for an efficient neat photocatalyst is often found in Zinc Sulfide due to its beneficial photophysical properties concerning charge carrier formation, high activity in water reduction without precious cocatalysts, and earth-abundance. Unfortunately, the high susceptibility of ZnS and its paramount role to photocorrosion is often neglected or only addressed in passing. To circumvent the low photostability of ZnS, the addition of sacrificial agents before photocatalytic testing is state-of-the-art but appears to stand without question in most publications. Using sacrificial agents is however far from reasonable as the former are constantly consumed in substantial amounts rendering the commonly claimed arguments of sustainability and economic feasibility of ZnS a potential misconception worth critically reviewing. Hence, with this review, we take a step back to objectively but also critically review the facts regarding photocorrosion and applicability of Zinc Sulfide photocatalysis.

在子孙后代可持续生活的必要性的推动下，基于半导体的光催化在绿色能源转换或污染物降解等各个研究领域越来越受到关注。由于价/导带电位不足、载流子寿命和迁移率短、需要贵金属助催化剂和/或与其他半导体的异质结，通常发现纯半导体相当不活跃。一个著名的高效纯光催化剂的例子经常在硫化锌中找到，因为它具有关于电荷载流子形成的有益光物理特性，在没有贵重助催化剂的情况下在水还原中具有高活性，以及​​地球上的丰富性。不幸的是，ZnS 的高敏感性及其对光腐蚀的重要作用经常被忽视或只是顺便解决。为了避免 ZnS 的低光稳定性，在光催化测试之前添加牺牲剂是最先进的，但在大多数出版物中似乎毫无疑问。然而，使用牺牲剂是不合理的，因为前者经常被大量消耗，这使得人们普遍声称的关于 ZnS 的可持续性和经济可行性的论点成为一个值得批判性审查的潜在误解。因此，通过这次审查，我们退后一步，客观但也批判性地审查了硫化锌光催化的光腐蚀和适用性的事实。然而，使用牺牲剂是不合理的，因为前者经常被大量消耗，这使得人们普遍声称的关于 ZnS 的可持续性和经济可行性的论点成为一个值得批判性审查的潜在误解。因此，通过这次审查，我们退后一步，客观但也批判性地审查了硫化锌光催化的光腐蚀和适用性的事实。然而，使用牺牲剂是不合理的，因为前者经常被大量消耗，这使得人们普遍声称的关于 ZnS 的可持续性和经济可行性的论点成为一个值得批判性审查的潜在误解。因此，通过这次审查，我们退后一步，客观但也批判性地审查了硫化锌光催化的光腐蚀和适用性的事实。