Three-in-one oxygen vacancy: whole visible-spectrum absorption, efficient charge separation and surface site activation for robust CO2 photoreduction.

Three-in-one oxygen vacancy: whole visible-spectrum absorption, efficient charge separation and surface site activation for robust CO2 photoreduction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 Jan 02;: Authors: Yu H, Li J, Zhang Y, Yang S, Han K, Dong F, Ma T, Huang H Abstract Exploitation of efficient catalysts to realize solar-driven conversion of inert CO2 into useful fuels confronts big challenges owing to the poor photoabsorption, sluggish charge separation and inefficient surface reactive sites of photocatalysts. Herein, we report a facile and controllable in situ reduction strategy to create surface oxygen vacancies (OVs) on Aurivillius-phase Sr2Bi2Nb2TiO12 to tackle all aforementioned issues. Sr2Bi2Nb2TiO12 nanosheets are for the first time prepared by a mineralizer-assisted soft-chemical method, and the introduction of OVs on the surface of Sr2Bi2Nb2TiO12 not only extends photo-response to cover the whole visible region, but also tremendously promotes separation of photo-induced charge carriers. Moreover, the adsorption and activation of CO2 molecules on the surface of the catalyst are largely enhanced. In the gas-solid reaction system without any co-catalysts or sacrificial agents, OVs-abundant Sr2Bi2Nb2TiO12 nanosheets show an outstanding CO2 photoreduction activity in producing CO with a rate of 17.11 μmol g-1 h-1, ~58 times higher than that of the bulk counterpart, surpassing most previously reported state-of-the-art photocatalysts....
Source: Angewandte Chemie - Category: Chemistry Authors: Tags: Angew Chem Int Ed Engl Source Type: research