Formation of hierarchical Bi2MoO6/ln2S3 S-scheme heterojunction with rich oxygen vacancies for boosting photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Employing photocatalytic technology to promote CO2 photoreduction into carbon fuels is of great significance to the field of renewable energy. Herein, the hierarchical Bi2MoO6@In2S3 heterostructured nanotubes rich in surface oxygen vacancies (SOVs) are synthesized by a multi-step control strategy for visible-light-driven CO2 reduction. The combination of density functional theory (DFT) calculations and in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ISI-XPS) confirms the existence of the S-scheme charge transfer mechanism and SOVs, which will accelerate the separation of charges and ameliorate the redox capability. Additionally, the unique hierarchical hollow architectures also effectively promote the efficiency of light utilization and provide abundant reactive sites. Consequently, the optimized Bi2MoO6-SOVs@In2S3 heterogeneous nanotubes display remarkable activity under visible light irradiation, with the yield rate and selectivity for CO-generation are 28.54 μmol g-1h−1 and 94.1%, respectively. This work provides new opportunities for the design of hierarchical hollow heterojunctions with an S-scheme charge transfer mechanism for effective photocatalytic CO2 reduction.