Zirconium induced surfaces frustrated Lewis acid-base pairs for BiOBr boosting CO 2 photoreduction

Conversion of CO 2 to carbon -based fuels via photocatalytic reduction, as a prospective approach, could alleviate energy shortages and environmental problems. However, the adsorption and activation of CO 2 in the process of photocatalytic CO 2 reduction are still great challenge. Herein, Zr isomorphous substituted BiOBr catalyst with surface frustrated Lewis acid -base pairs (SFLPs) are formed by a convenient chemical method. The photocatalytic activity of CO 2 reduction for optimal Zr-BiOBr is significantly improved, with CO yield of 185.7 mu mol center dot g - 1 center dot h -1 and CH 4 of 0.7 mu mol center dot g - 1 center dot h - 1 , being 9.2 - fold and 3.2 - fold higher than that of original BiOBr, respectively. It is found that zirconium is considered as Lewis acid site and lattice oxygen as Lewis base site, which could effectively boost the adsorption and activiation of CO 2 molecules. This work not only demonstrates that construction of SFLPs for catalyst could be taken as an effective tactics for CO 2 adsorption and activation, but also suggests a possible photocatalytic mechanism in depth.