Defect‐Rich Bi₁₂O₁₇Cl₂ Nanotubes Self‐Accelerating Charge Separation for Boosting Photocatalytic CO₂ Reduction

Abstract

Solar‐driven reduction of CO2, which converts inexhaustible solar energy into value‐added fuels, has been recognized as a promising sustainable energy conversion technology. However, the overall conversion efficiency is significantly limited by the inefficient charge separation and sluggish interfacial reaction dynamics, which resulted from a lack of sufficient active sites. Herein, Bi12O17Cl2 superfine nanotubes with a bilayer thickness of the tube wall are designed to achieve structural distortion for the creation of surface oxygen defects, thus accelerating the carrier migration and facilitating CO2 activation. Without cocatalyst and sacrificing reagent, Bi12O17Cl2 nanotubes deliver high selectivity CO evolution rate of 48.6 μmol g−1 h−1 in water (16.8 times than of bulk Bi12O17Cl2), while maintaining stability even after 12 h of testing. This paves the way to design efficient photocatalysts with collaborative optimizing charge separation and CO2 activation towards CO2 photoreduction.

Defects Engineering in Photocatalytic Water Splitting Materials

“…For instance, Zhang et al. found that the formation of oxygen vacancies on TiO 2 could promote the water dissociation and lower the activation energy, and after self‐healing of surface oxygen vacancies (surf‐Vos) with water molecules, the subsurface oxygen vacancies (sub‐Vos) could effectively promote the sluggish water dissociation step on TiO 2 , resulting in enhanced water activation and splitting (Figure a) …”

Room‐Temperature Photocatalytic Decomposition of N2O over Nanobelt‐Like Bi2MoO6

“…Besides, the intensities of PL peaks distinctly decrease with the increasing of hydrothermal temperatures, and BM‐170 displays the weakest intensity, and the intensity of the peak increases as the following order: BM‐140 < BM‐150 < BM‐160 < BM‐180 < BM‐170. While it is widely accepted that lower PL intensity means the higher transfer rate of interfacial charge and lower recombination rate of photo‐generated electron‐hole pairs …”

Near‐Infrared Regulated Nanozymatic/Photothermal/Photodynamic Triple‐Therapy for Combating Multidrug‐Resistant Bacterial Infections via Oxygen‐Vacancy Molybdenum Trioxide Nanodots

“…The remarkable peak at 530.3 eV should be attributed to the oxygen vacancy. [ 48,49 ] Then the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) was then performed to further verify the oxygen vacancy, [ 50 ] since it gives the evidence about the surface defects as well as the trapped electrons in the tested samples (Figure 1G). As shown, the MoO 3− x NDs samples display an EPR signal at g = 2.001, which can be due to the electrons captured on oxygen vacancy.…”