Bismuth Vacancy-Induced Efficient CO2 Photoreduction in BiOCl Directly from Natural Air: A Progressive Step toward Photosynthesis in Nature

Photocatalytic CO2 conversion into carbonaceous fuels through artificial photosynthesis is beneficial to global warming mitigation and renewable resource generation. However, a high cost is always required by special CO2-capturing devices for efficient artificial photosynthesis. For achieving highly efficient photocatalytic CO2 reduction (PCR) directly from natural air, we report rose-like BiOCl that is rich in Bi vacancies (V-Bi) assembled by nanosheets with almost fully exposed active {001} facets. These rose-like BiOCl with V-Bi assemblies provide considerable adsorption and catalytic sites, which hoists the CO2 capture and reduction capabilities, and thus expedites the PCR to a superior value of 21.99 mu mol.g(-1).h(-1) CO generation under a 300 W Xe lamp within 5 h from natural air. The novel design and construction of a photocatalyst in this work could break through the conventional PCR system requiring compression and purification for CO2, dramatically reduce expenses, and open up new possibilities for the practical application of artificial photosynthesis.