Issue 12, 2024

Enhancement effect of oxygen vacancy on photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Abstract

BiOBr was manufactured with various concentrations of oxygen vacancies via a solvothermal method using various alcohols as reducing agents. The reductive alcohol resulted in the fracture of the Bi–O bond, thus producing oxygen vacancies. The less polar solvent and extension of the hydroxyl carbon chain of the alcohol facilitate the generation of oxygen vacancies. Theoretical calculations and experiments demonstrated that oxygen vacancies could act as trapping sites to improve the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers, accompanied by a decrease in the band gap energy to increase the absorption capacity for visible light. The enriched electrons in the defect band could generate more “hot electrons” that were transported to CO2 molecules adsorbed onto unsaturated coordination centers, lowering the reaction barrier and promoting the activation of CO2via the surface plasmon resonance effect. The resulting catalyst prepared with ethylene glycol exhibited a remarkable CO yield of 122.38 μmol g−1 h−1, which is nearly 7.2 times over that of the catalyst prepared with pure water. The enhanced photocatalytic performance corresponded to changes in oxygen vacancy concentration. Therefore, the change in the band gap structure arising from the variation in the content of oxygen vacancies is the cause of enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction.

Graphical abstract: Enhancement effect of oxygen vacancy on photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Dec 2023
Accepted
02 Feb 2024
First published
02 Feb 2024

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024,12, 7207-7214

Enhancement effect of oxygen vacancy on photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Q. Yang, Y. Wang, Q. Tian, X. Li, A. Pan, M. Zhao, Y. Zhu, T. Wu and G. Fang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024, 12, 7207 DOI: 10.1039/D3TA07981C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements