Journal Article

Atomic‐level insight of sulfidation‐engineered Aurivillius‐related Bi2O2SiO3 nanosheets enabling visible light low‐concentration CO2 conversion

Li, Yuan, Wu, Xiaoyong, Wang, Guohong, Xiao, Yao, Hu, Haiyan, Zhang, Gaoke, Wang, Kai, Chou, Shulei, Du, Yue

2023

Overview

Unraveling atomic‐level active sites of layered photocatalyst towards low‐concentration CO2 conversion is still challenging. Herein, the yield and selectivity of photocatalytic CO2 reduction of the Aurivillius‐related oxide semiconductor Bi2O2SiO3 nanosheet (BOSO) were largely improved using a surface sulfidation strategy. The experiment and theoretical calculation confirmed that surface sulfidation of the Bi2O2SiO3 nanosheet (S‐BOSO, 6.28 nm) redistributed the charge‐enriched Bi sites, extended the solar spectrum absorption to the whole visible range, and considerably enhanced the charge separation, in addition to creating new reaction active sites, as compared to pristine BOSO. Subsequently, surface sulfidation played a switchable role, wherein S‐BOSO showed a very high CH3OH generation rate (12.78 µmol g−1 for 4 h, 78.6% selectivity) from low‐concentration CO2 (1000 ppm) under visible light irradiation, which outperforms most of the state‐of‐the‐art photocatalysts under similar conditions. This study presents an atomic‐level modification protocol for engineering reactive sites and charge behaviors to promote solar‐to‐energy conversion. A desirable atomic‐level sulfidation strategy over an Aurivillius‐related layer‐structured photocatalyst Bi2O2SiO3 is demonstrated. Sulfidation‐induced reactive sites facilitate local charge separation, contributing to enhanced low‐concentration CO2 photoreduction. The system also shows feasibility in diluted CO2 conditions, typically hindered by the deficient reactive sites in conventional systems.

• Publisher: Wiley
• Subject: [Bi2O2]2+ layer / Bi2O2SiO3 / low‐concentration CO2 reduction / photocatalysis / sulfidation