Regulating *H Dynamics via Photoinduced Oxygen Vacancy‐Lattice Oxygen Frustrated Lewis Pairs for Superior CO <sub>2</sub> Photoreduction
Herein, we construct photoinduced oxygen vacancy-lattice oxygen frustrated Lewis pairs (V<sub>o</sub>-O<sub>L</sub> FLPs) on metal oxide atomic layers, coupled with employing benzyl alcohol (BA) as an alternative *H source, to concurrently promote *H production and transfer, enabling efficient CO<sub>2</sub> photoreduction. Taking the V<sub>o</sub>-Bi<sub>2</sub>WO<sub>6</sub> atomic layers as examples, in situ solid-state electron paramagnetic resonance and in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy elucidate photoinduced FLPs, composed of V<sub>o</sub> and O<sub>L</sub>, which respectively trap photogenerated electrons and holes to activate CO<sub>2</sub> and facilitate BA dehydrogenation. In situ Kelvin probe force microscopy and density of states calculations indicate V<sub>o</sub> suppresses the electron-hole recombination by creating defect levels. Importantly, in situ Fourier-transform infrared spectra, isotopic-labeling experiments and theoretical calculations demonstrate the V<sub>o</sub>-O<sub>L</sub> FLPs mediate efficient *H transfer from BA to CO<sub>2</sub>, suppressing competitive *H reduction to H<sub>2</sub>. In situ electron paramagnetic resonance spectra also disclose BA oxidation proceeds via a more kinetically favorable pathway for *H production than H<sub>2</sub>O oxidation. Benefiting from the synergistic enhancement in *H production and transfer, the photocatalyst achieves an impressive CO<sub>2</sub> conversion rate of 3667.1 µmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> with excellent 240 h stability, surpassing previously reported state-of-the-art systems. This work offers atomic-level insights for designing active sites to optimize *H dynamics.
Authors
- Kai Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2626-4747)
- Youyong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5248-2756)
- Awei Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1111-8154)
- Yi Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1416-5557)
- Yongfu Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4420-5708)
- Bangwang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6880-1048)
- Mingyu Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7411-1916)
- Yaping Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9320-8024)
- Siying Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7399-5588)
- Jianquan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3904-2817)
- Yang Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0931-7648)
- Juncheng Zhu
- Youbin Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4891-5042)
- Xiangning Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2978-6161)
- Jun Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7846-4708)
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Hefei National Center for Physical Sciences at Nanoscale (CN)
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2025-12-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202517024
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.36