Pyrochlore oxides as visible light-responsive photocatalysts

Abstract

Heterogeneous photocatalysis has been considered as one of the most attractive alternative routes to transform naturally abundant, clean, and sustainable solar energy into chemical energy. Considering efficient solar-energy utilisation, the development of new materials that are sensitive to visible light is an important direction in the theory and practice of heterogeneous photocatalysis. In recent years, many efforts have been focused on the development of pyrochlore oxides as visible light-responsive photocatalysts for the degradation of dyes, water splitting, and CO₂ reduction. The interest in pyrochlores is attributed to their compositional flexibility to manipulate the electron/hole mobility by introducing a wide range of elements into their structure. The present perspective reports the progress over the last 5 years in the use of pyrochlore-like oxides as promising photocatalysts for various applications. A special focus of this perspective is on the strategies for the enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of pyrochlores, namely optimisation of their preparation method, band gap engineering, incorporation of plasmonic metals, and creation of heterojunctions.