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Inducing amorphous components into Al2O3 leads to elongation of the Al–O bond and the formation of oxygen vacancies, which makes Al2O3 an independent photocatalyst for CO2 adsorption and reduction.

α-Bi2O3/Bi5NO3O7 heterojunctions are constructed, and show higher separation efficiency but lower photocatalytic activity. The reasons are related to the shift of energy band positions.

A well-designed photocatalyst with excellent activity and selectivity is crucial for photocatalytic CO2 conversion and utilization. TiO2 is one of the most promising photocatalysts. However, its excessive surface oxidation potential and insufficient surface active sites inhibit its activity and photocatalytic CO2 reduction selectivity. In this work, highly dispersed Bi2Ti2O7 was introduced into defective TiO2 to adjust its oxidation potential and the generation of radicals, further inhibiting reverse reactions during the photocatalytic conversion of CO2. Moreover, an in situ topochemical reaction etching route was designed, which achieved defective surfaces, a contacted heterophase interface, and an efficient electron transfer path. The optimized heterophase photocatalyst exhibited 93.9% CH4 selectivity at a photocatalytic rate of 6.8 μmol·g−1·h−1, which was 7.9 times higher than that of P25. This work proposes a feasible approach to fabricating photocatalysts with well-designed band structures, highly dispersed heterophase interfaces, and sufficient surface active sites to effectively modulate the selectivity and activity of CO2 photoreduction by manipulating the reaction pathways.

Efficient separation of electrons and holes in photocatalysis plays a key role in achieving high efficiencies of CO2 reduction. The available built-in electric field could separate the photogenerated charges and...

Correction for ‘Insight into the relationship between redox ability and separation efficiency via the case of α-Bi2O3/Bi5NO3O7’ by Jie-hao Li et al., Inorg. Chem. Front., 2022, 9, 3578–3589, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2QI00731B.

Photocatalysis has been facing challenging problems especially the inefficient photocarriers transfer at the interfaces. Here, based on Ksp difference, we prepare the sequential heterojunction of CoS/CdS/CuS via sequential cation exchange strategy, and propose the concept of "electron-welcome zone", where the point-to-point contact can be formed at the interface, thus providing continuous electron transport channels. HAADF-STEM EDS line test indicates the formation of designed structures, and the p/n junction is confirmed by band structure and Mott-Schottky analysis. Theoretical calculation indicates that CoS reduces the Gibbs free energy of the reaction. TRPL spectra show that the existence of "electron welcome zone" greatly improves the lifetime of electrons. This sequential structure enable the optimal H2 production rate to reach 123.2 mmol g−1 h−1 with AQE of 45.6%, which is among the highest values of CdS-based photocatalysts. This work opens new way to efficient photogenerated carrier transfer channel for solar-energy conversion.