Mimicking Photosynthesis: A Natural Z-Scheme Photocatalyst Constructed from Red Mud Bauxite Waste for Overall Water Splitting

Xuelian Yu; Jian Xu; Jiangpeng Wang; Jinyu Qiu; Xiaoqiang An; Zhuan Wang; Guocheng Lv; Libing Liao; Jinhua Ye

doi:10.1002/anie.202302050

Mimicking Photosynthesis: A Natural Z-Scheme Photocatalyst Constructed from Red Mud Bauxite Waste for Overall Water Splitting

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 May 2;62(19):e202302050. doi: 10.1002/anie.202302050. Epub 2023 Apr 3.

Authors

Xuelian Yu¹, Jian Xu¹, Jiangpeng Wang¹, Jinyu Qiu¹, Xiaoqiang An², Zhuan Wang³, Guocheng Lv¹, Libing Liao¹, Jinhua Ye⁴

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Geological Carbon Storage and Low Carbon Utilization of Resources, Beijing Key Laboratory of Materials Utilization of Nonmetallic Minerals and Solid Wastes, National Laboratory of Mineral Materials, School of Materials Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China.
² Center for Water and Ecology, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
³ Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
⁴ International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan.

PMID: 36914574
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202302050

Abstract

All-solid-state Z-Scheme photocatalysts have attracted significant attention due to their great potential for solar fuel production. However, delicately coupling two individual semiconductors with a charge shuttle by a material strategy remains a challenge. Herein, we demonstrate a new protocol of natural Z-Scheme heterostructures by strategically engineering the component and interfacial structure of red mud bauxite waste. Advanced characterizations elucidated that the hydrogen-induced formation of metallic Fe enabled the effective Z-Scheme electron transfer from γ-Fe₂ O₃ to TiO₂ , leading to the significantly boosted spatial separation of photo-generated carriers for overall water splitting. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first Z-Scheme heterojunction based on natural minerals for solar fuel production. Thus our work provides a new avenue toward the utilization of natural minerals for advanced catalysis applications.

Keywords: Minerals; Overall Water Splitting; Photocatalysis; Red Mud; Z-Scheme.

Abstract

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