Interfacial C-S Bonds of g-C3N4/Bi19Br3S27 S-Scheme Heterojunction for Enhanced Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Step-scheme (S-scheme) heterojunctions have been extensively studied in photocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction due to their excellent charge separation and high redox ability. The built-in electric field at the interface of a S-scheme heterojunction serves as the driving force for charge transfer, however, the poor interfacial contact greatly restricts the carrier migration rate. Herein, we synthesized the g-C3N4/Bi19Br3S27 S-scheme heterostructure through in situ deposition of Bi19Br3S27 (BBS) on porous g-C3N4 (P-CN) nanosheets. The C-S bonds formed at the interface help to enhance the built-in electric field, thereby promoting the charge transfer and separation. As a result, the CO2 reduction reaction performance of 10 %Bi19Br3S27/g-C3N4 (BBS/P-CN) reaches 32.78 mu mol g(-1)h(-1), which is 341.4 and 18.7 times higher than that of pure BBS and P-CN, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) prove the presence of chemical bonds (C-S) between the P-CN and BBS. The S-scheme charge-transfer mechanism was analyzed via XPS and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This work provides a new idea for designing heterojunction photocatalysts with interfacial chemical bonds to achieve high charge-transfer and catalytic activity.