Energy Platform for Directed Charge Transfer in the Cascade Z‐Scheme Heterojunction: CO<sub>2</sub> Photoreduction without a Cocatalyst
Ji Bian, Ziqing Zhang, Jiannan Feng, Madasamy Thangamuthu, Fan Yang, Ling Sun, Zhijun Li, Yang Qu, Dongyan Tang, Zewei Lin, Fuquan Bai, Junwang Tang, Liqiang Jing
Abstract
Abstract A universal strategy is developed to construct a cascade Z‐Scheme system, in which an effective energy platform is the core to direct charge transfer and separation, blocking the unexpected type‐II charge transfer pathway. The dimension‐matched (001)TiO 2 ‐g‐C 3 N 4 /BiVO 4 nanosheet heterojunction (T‐CN/BVNS) is the first such model. The optimized cascade Z‐Scheme exhibits ≈19‐fold photoactivity improvement for CO 2 reduction to CO in the absence of cocatalysts and costly sacrificial agents under visible‐light irradiation, compared with BVNS, which is also superior to other reported Z‐Scheme systems even with noble metals as mediators. The experimental results and DFT calculations based on van der Waals structural models on the ultrafast timescale reveal that the introduced T as the platform prolongs the lifetimes of spatially separated electrons and holes and does not compromise their reduction and oxidation potentials.