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Unravelling the Synergy between Oxygen Vacancies and Oxygen Substitution in BiO 2− x for Efficient Molecular‐Oxygen Activation
Author(s) -
Mao Yueshuang,
Wang Pengfei,
Li Lina,
Chen Zongwei,
Wang Haitao,
Li Yi,
Zhan Sihui
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201914001
Subject(s) - bismuth , oxygen , materials science , substitution (logic) , density functional theory , chemical physics , vacancy defect , oxide , chemistry , crystallography , computational chemistry , organic chemistry , computer science , metallurgy , programming language
Abstract Defects in nanomaterials often lead to properties that are absent in their pristine counterparts. To date, most studies have focused on the effect of single defects, while ignoring the synergy of multiple defects. In this study, a model of photocatalytic O 2 activation was selected to unravel the role of dual defects by decorating bismuth oxide with surface O vacancies and bulk O substitution simultaneously. The introduction of dual defects led to a spatial and electronic synergistic process: i) O substitution induced a local electric field in the bulk of BiO 2− x , which promoted bulk separation of electrons and holes immediately after their generation; ii) O vacancies efficiently lowered the conduction band, served as the capture center for electrons, and thus facilitated the adsorption and activation of O 2 . This effect was greatly promoted by the coexistence of bulk O substitution, and DFT calculations showed that only O substitution near an O vacancy could have this effect.