Oxygen vacancy-promoted photocatalytic H2O2 production over bismuth oxybromide nanosheets

Hongxiang Chu; Ruofan Li; Di Zeng; Wenjing Wang; Bingkun Cui; Taikang Jia; Ling Zhang; Wenzhong Wang

doi:10.1039/d3cc04127a

Oxygen vacancy-promoted photocatalytic H₂O₂ production over bismuth oxybromide nanosheets

Chem Commun (Camb). 2023 Nov 28;59(95):14142-14145. doi: 10.1039/d3cc04127a.

Authors

Hongxiang Chu^{1

2

3}, Ruofan Li^{2

3}, Di Zeng^{2

3}, Wenjing Wang³, Bingkun Cui^{2

3}, Taikang Jia^{2

3}, Ling Zhang^{2

3}, Wenzhong Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Sub-lane Xiangshan, Hangzhou 310024, China. wzwang@mail.sic.ac.cn.
² Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, China. lingzhang@mail.sic.ac.cn.

PMID: 37955151
DOI: 10.1039/d3cc04127a

Abstract

Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is an essential and versatile oxidant. The photocatalytic production of H₂O₂ is a promising alternative to the conventional anthraquinone oxidation process. In this work, BiOBr nanosheets with oxygen vacancies (OVs) were successfully synthesized by a solvothermal method in the presence of mannitol. The character of the nanosheets shortened the diffuse length of charge carriers, which is beneficial for the charge separation. The introduction of OVs enhanced the visible light absorption and also improved the carrier separation. Furthermore, OVs enhanced the activation of O₂ molecules and facilitated the generation of ˙O₂^-. As a result, the products exhibited good performance in photocatalytic H₂O₂ production. After introducing HCOOH, the yield of H₂O₂ was further enhanced by a factor of 50, from 3 μmol h^-1 to 150 μmol h^-1. This work provides a reference to design high performance photocatalysts for H₂O₂ production through defect engineering.