S-scheme charge transfer and photoinduced self-heating effect synergistically enhance the solar-driven CO2 reduction over Cs3Bi2Br9/Bi2S3 hybrid

Photothermocatalytic CO2 reduction, which harnesses the solar power to not only supply heat input but also generate charge carriers, represents an attractive and sustainable approach for solar-to-fuel conversion. Herein, an innovative Cs3Bi2Br9/Bi2S3 (CBB/Bi2S3) hybrid catalyst was elaborately designed by an electrostatic-driven self-assembling approach, which can achieve the effect of "kill two birds with one stone". On the one hand, Bi2S3 functions as a photothermal material owing to its photoinduced self-heating effect, which elevates the temperature of the catalyst for accelerating the catalytic reaction. On the other hand, Bi2S3 synchronously boosts charge separation by forming an S-scheme heterojunction with CBB, as revealed by first-principle simulation and a series of experimental techniques. Remarkably, the developed CBB/Bi2S3 hybrid affords an impressive CO production rate (RCO = 153.82 μmol g−1h−1) without any extra heat input. The present study can provide some enlightening guidance for developing high-performance photothermal catalysts for efficient CO2 conversion.