Photocatalytic Reduction of CO₂ with H₂O Mediated by Ce-Tailored Bismuth Oxybromide Surface Frustrated Lewis Pairs

Photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 into available organic compounds has received remarkable attention. However, photocatalytic CO 2 reduction is limited to meet industrial application requirements because of the lack of effective photocatalysts. Surface frustrated Lewis pairs (FLP) are found in bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr), which are effective catalytic sites to activate and photocatalytically reduce CO 2 . Furthermore, the introduction of Ce 4+ and oxygen vacancy can optimize both the electronic state and the FLP property of BiOBr. The combined experimental and theoretical characterizations reveal that Ce 4+ and O 2– can form the frustrated Lewis acid–base pairs, which can catch, excite, and reduce CO 2 into CO at a high yield of 50.9 μL h –1, being 9.8 times as large as pristine BiOBr. This work illustrates a rational strategy for both construction of highly efficient photocatalysts and insights into the photocatalytic mechanism at the atomic level.