Magnetic field-enhanced photocatalytic nitrogen fixation over defect-rich ferroelectric Bi2WO6

Abstract

Photocatalytic N2 fixation is a promising and sustainable manufacturing process of ammonia (NH3); however, the NH3 production rate by this method is very low, thus severely restricting further application of this sustainable technology. Therefore, developing an efficient photocatalyst for N2 fixation under mild conditions is urgently required. Herein, ferroelectric Bi2WO6 materials with different surface oxygen defects were prepared, and the concentration of corresponding defects was controlled by adjusting the thermal reduction time. The abundant oxygen defects in Bi2WO6 can provide more reactive sites to promote the effective adsorption of N2, and the photogenerated charge carrier can be efficiently separated benefiting from the internal electric field. These would weaken the N2 triple bond and reduce the activation energy barrier for the conversion of N2 to NH3 under mild conditions. In the absence of sacrificial agents and cocatalysts, the optimized Bi2WO6 with oxygen defects shows an indigenous NH3 yield of 132.175 μmol·g-1·L-1·h-1, which is more than two times higher than that of the original Bi2WO6. Surprisingly, the Bi2WO6 with oxygen defects produced more than eight times NH3 (471.13 μmol·g-1·L-1·h-1) than that of the original Bi2WO6 when assisted by an external magnetic field, thus providing a new perspective for further enhancing the N2 fixation performance.