In Situ Formation of Z-Scheme Bi2WO6/WO3 Heterojunctions for Gas-Phase CO2 Photoreduction with H2O by Photohydrothermal Treatment

We report a new photohydrothermal method to prepare a Bi2WO6/WO3 catalytic material for CO2 photoreduction by solar concentrators. The photohydrothermal treatment improves the physico-chemical properties of the Bi2WO6/WO3 material and forms well contact Bi2WO6/WO3 heterojunctions, which increase the maximum reaction rate of CO2 photoreduction to 8.2 times under the simulated light, and the hydrocarbon yield under the real concentrating solar light achieves thousands of μmol·gcata−1. The reason for the high activity is attributed to the direct Z-scheme effect of Bi2WO6/WO3 heterojunctions and the photothermal effect during the course. These findings highlight the utilization of solar energy in CO2 photoreduction and open avenues for the rational design of highly efficient photocatalysts.