Issue 11, 2022

Manipulation of charge carrier flow in Bi4NbO8Cl nanoplate photocatalyst with metal loading

Abstract

Separation of photoexcited charge carriers in semiconductors is important for efficient solar energy conversion and yet the control strategies and underlying mechanisms are not fully established. Although layered compounds have been widely studied as photocatalysts, spatial separation between oxidation and reduction reaction sites is a challenging issue due to the parallel flow of photoexcited carriers along the layers. Here we demonstrate orthogonal carrier flow in layered Bi4NbO8Cl by depositing a Rh cocatalyst at the edges of nanoplates, resulting in spatial charge separation and significant enhancement of the photocatalytic activity. Combined experimental and theoretical studies revealed that lighter photogenerated electrons, due to a greater in-plane dispersion of the conduction band (vs. valence band), can travel along the plane and are readily trapped by the cocatalyst, whereas the remaining holes hop perpendicular to the plane because of the anisotropic crystal geometry. Our results propose manipulating carrier flow via cocatalyst deposition to achieve desirable carrier dynamics for photocatalytic reactions in layered compounds.

Graphical abstract: Manipulation of charge carrier flow in Bi4NbO8Cl nanoplate photocatalyst with metal loading

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
02 11 2021
Accepted
22 1 2022
First published
24 1 2022
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 3118-3128

Manipulation of charge carrier flow in Bi4NbO8Cl nanoplate photocatalyst with metal loading

K. Ogawa, R. Sakamoto, C. Zhong, H. Suzuki, K. Kato, O. Tomita, K. Nakashima, A. Yamakata, T. Tachikawa, A. Saeki, H. Kageyama and R. Abe, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 3118 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC06054F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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