We show that in contrast to conventional compound photocatalysts, α-sulfur crystals of cyclooctasulfur (S(8)) are a visible-light-active elemental photocatalyst. The α-S crystals were found to have the ability not only to generate ·OH radicals but also to split water in a photoelectrochemical process under both UV-vis and visible-light irradiation. Although the absolute activity obtained was low because of the large particle size and poor hydrophilicity of the α-S crystals studied, there is great potential for increasing the activity with the assistance of known strategies such as surface modification, nanoscaling, doping, and coupling with other photocatalysts.

中文翻译：

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α-硫晶体作为可见光活性光催化剂

我们表明，与传统的复合光催化剂相比，环八硫 (S(8)) 的 α-硫晶体是一种可见光活性元素光催化剂。研究发现，α-S 晶体不仅能产生·OH 自由基，还能在紫外-可见光和可见光照射下的光电化学过程中分解水。尽管由于所研究的 α-S 晶体的粒径大且亲水性差，获得的绝对活性较低，但在已知策略的帮助下，如表面改性、纳米尺度、掺杂和与其他光触媒。