In situ fabrication of plasmonic Bi/CsPbBr3 composite photocatalyst toward enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Abstract

In recent years, the semimetal bismuth with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect has attracted great attention due to its application in enhancing photocatalytic activity. Herein, we developed a novel plasma-enhanced Bi/CsPbBr3 composite photocatalyst by in situ growth method (BCPB-IS) using the fabricated CsPbBr3 nanosheets (CPB) as the substrate for subsequent growth of Bi nanoparticles. Without the addition of any sacrificial agent, the CO yield of BCPB-IS reaches 76.4 µmol g−1 with an over 97% selectivity of CO under 4 h visible light irradiation. Such remarkable CO2 reduction activity far exceeds that of pure CPB. The enhanced activity can be attributed to these factors: (1) The SPR effect from the loading of Bi NPs enhances the light response performance of BCPB; (2) The simultaneously generated hot electrons leads to rising ambient temperature, which promotes the electron transfer efficiency and photoreduction reaction efficiency; (3) The energy band bending effect at the interface of BCPB further improves the carrier separation and transfer performance. The enhanced separation and transfer performance of photogenerated carriers were investigated in detail by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Infrared thermograms and Time-resolved photoluminescence spectra (TRPL).