Enhanced Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation Performance of Ruo2/Biocl Composite with Rich Interface Oxygen-Vacancy

Here, we report a novel RuO2/BiOCl heterogeneous catalyst with abundant interface oxygen defects, which was obtained by a simple hydrolysis without any deliberate processing conditions of oxygen vacancy. The synthetic process of BiOCl was monitored by in suit EPR characteristic analysis, indicted that interaction between RuO2 and BiOCl during the synthesis reaction leads to an amount of interface oxygen defects. Compared with pure BiOCl catalyst, the RuO2/BiOCl had better nitrogen fixation activity, with the optimal activity reached 131.9 µM/L. The increase of photocatalytic nitrogen fixation activity is speculated as follows: on the one hand, RuO2NCs can accelerate the transfer and consumption of holes; on the other hand, the interface oxygen defects are conducive to the adsorption and activation of nitrogen. This work clarified that oxygen defects lead by inter-component contact can also act as catalytic activity sites for adsorption and activation of nitrogen.