Artificial Photosynthesis over Tubular In<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/ZnO Heterojunctions Assisted by Efficient CO<sub>2</sub> Activation and S‐Scheme Charge Separation
Gaowei Han, Chengyuan Liu, Yang Pan, Wojciech Macyk, S. Wageh, Ahmed A. Al‐Ghamdi, Feiyan Xu
Abstract
Abstract Solar‐driven CO 2 reduction shows promise in alleviating climate change and energy crises, but it suffers from difficult CO 2 activation and rapid electron/hole recombination in current photocatalysts. Here we develop novel metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs)‐derived In 2 O 3 /ZnO tubular S‐scheme heterojunction photocatalyst for CO 2 photoreduction. Resulting from Fermi level difference and electron transfer, an internal electric field is built at heterojunction interfaces and contributes to the formation of S‐scheme heterojunctions, as unveiled by in situ irradiation X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time‐resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. CO 2 molecules are chemisorbed and activated over the photocatalyst in views of DFT simulations. The CO 2 photoreduction follows a *COOH‐intermediate pathway and affords an enhanced CO production rate (12.6 µmol g −1 ) with nearly 100% selectivity in the absence of any molecular cocatalyst or scavenger. The enhanced performance is ascribed to the efficient charge separation, stronger redox ability, and powerful CO 2 activation of In 2 O 3 /ZnO S‐scheme heterojunctions.