M/BiOCl‐(M = Pt, Pd, and Au) Boosted Selective Photocatalytic CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction to C<sub>2</sub> Hydrocarbons via *CHO Intermediate Manipulation
Qiong Liu, Chengbo Bai, Chengxin Zhu, Wenjin Guo, Guangfang Li, Sheng Guo, Devesh R. Kripalani, Kun Zhou, Rong Chen
Abstract
Abstract Selective CO 2 photoreduction to C 2 hydrocarbons is significant but limited by the inadequate adsorption strength of the reaction intermediates and low efficiency of proton transfer. Herein, an ameliorative *CO adsorption and H 2 O activation strategy is realized via decorating bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) nanostructures with different metal (Pt, Pd, and Au) species. Experimental and theoretical calculation results reveal that distinct *CO binding energies and *H acquisition abilities of the metal cocatalysts mediate the CO 2 reduction activity and hydrocarbon selectivity. The relatively moderate *CO adsorption and *H supply over Pd/BiOCl endows it with the lowest free energy to generate *CHO, leading to its highest activity of hydrocarbon production. Specifically, the Pt cocatalyst can efficiently participate in H 2 O dissociation to deliver more *H for facilitating the protonation of the *CHO and *CHOH, thereby favoring CH 4 production with 76.51% selectivity. A lower *H supply over Pd/BiOCl and Au/BiOCl results in a large energy barrier for *CHO or *CHOH protonation and thus a more thermodynamically favored OC─CHO coupling pathway, which endows them with vastly increased C 2 hydrocarbon selectivity of 81.21% and 92.81%, respectively. The understanding of efficient C 2 hydrocarbon production in this study sheds light on how materials can be engineered for photocatalytic CO 2 reduction.