Selective Bonding Effect of Heterologous Oxygen Vacancies in Z‑Scheme Cu2O/SrFe0.5Ta0.5O3 Heterojunctions for Constructing Efficient Interfacial Charge-Transfer Channels and Enhancing Photocatalytic NO Removal Performances

• Published in: Langmuir 2021-01, Vol.37 (2), p.894-907
• Main Authors: Cui, Entian, Hou, Guihua, Chen, Xiahui, Xie, Minghua, Zhang, Feng, Deng, Yuxin, Wu, Yuqi, Yang, Xiuli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0743-7463; 1520-5827
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03238

An interfacial structure is crucial to the photoinduced electron transport for a heterostructure photocatalyst. Constructing an interfacial electron channel with an optimized interfacial structure can efficiently improve the electron-transfer efficiency. Herein, the rapid electron-transfer channels were built up in a Cu2O/SrFe0.5Ta0.5O3 heterojunction (Cu2O/SFTO) based on the selective bonding effect of heterologous surface oxygen vacancies in the SFTO component. The heterologous surface oxygen vacancies, namely, VO–Fe and VO–Ta, respectively, adjacent to Fe and Ta atoms, were introduced into fabricating the Z-scheme Cu2O/SFTO heterojunction. Compared with sample Cu2O/SFTO with VO–Fe, the photocatalytic NO removal efficiency of sample Cu2O/SFTO with VO‑Fe and VO‑Ta was increased by 22.5%. The enhanced photocatalytic performance originated from the selective bonding effect of heterologous VO–Fe and VO–Ta on the interfacial electron-separating and -transfer efficiency. VO–Fe is the main body to construct the interfacial electron-transfer channels by forming interfacial Fe–O–Cu­(I) bonds, which causes lattice distortion at the interface, and VO–Ta can optimize the structure of interfacial channels by balancing the electron density of SFTO to control the average space of the interface transition zone. This research provides a new cognitive perspective for constructing double perovskite oxide-based heterostructure photocatalysts.