Polyoxometalates tailoring of frustrated Lewis pairs on Ce-doped Bi2O3 for boosting photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Abstract

Constructing frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) on catalysts will provide catalytic sites to activate CO₂ and boost photocatalytic CO₂ reduction. Herein, a Ce-doped bismuth oxide (CeBiO_X) with FLPs was designed by loading [(α-SbW₉O₃₃)₂Cu₃(H₂O)₃]¹²⁻ (Cu₃) via strong electrostatic interactions to create oxygen vacancies (OVs). Detailed experiments and measurements showed that Cu₃ could regulate the FLPs and optimize the band structure of CeBiO_X to boost photocatalytic CO₂ reduction. In particular, the Cu₃/CeBiO_X composite exhibited the highest yields of CO (42.85 μmoL g⁻¹) and CH₄ (13.23 μmoL g⁻¹), being 6.6 and 3.3 times, and 4.9 and 6.3 times higher than those of pristine Bi₂O₃ and CeBiO_X, respectively. This work provides a significant and mild approach to obtaining advanced catalysts with tuneable FLPs for more fields.