A Full Solar Light Spectrum Responsive B@ZrO<sub>2</sub>–OV Photocatalyst: A Synergistic Strategy for Visible-to-NIR Photon Harvesting
Yumei Qin, Zhaoyang Ding, Wenwei Guo, Xiaolu Guo, Cheng Hou, Bang‐Ping Jiang, Chun‐Guang Liu, Xing‐Can Shen
Abstract
The utilization of diffusive solar energy through photocatalytic processes has received tremendous attention. Herein, a full-solar-spectrum photocatalyst with strong near-infrared (NIR) photoactivity, which is based on the synergy of oxygen vacancies (OVs) and doped boron that is cointegrated into zirconia (B@ZrO2–OV), is designed in this work. The doped photocatalyst is prepared via a controlled one-step NaBH4 reduction from white ZrO2. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that simultaneously introduced OVs and boron dopants on ZrO2 induced a narrow band gap (4.78 eV) and achieved charge separation (work function of 4.12 eV), thus confirming its excellent photocatalytic activity in the degradation of rhodamine B under NIR irradiation. In contrast, oxygen-deficient ZrO2 and white ZrO2 were inactive under NIR light. Therefore, this synergistic strategy provides an efficient way to use the narrow band gap of a classic semiconductor zirconia as a highly efficient catalyst for full-solar-spectrum-driven photocatalysis.