title: Single Unit Cell Bismuth Tungstate Layers Realizing Robust Solar CO2 Reduction to Methanol.
abstract: Solar CO2 reduction into hydrocarbons helps to solve the global warming and energy crisis. However, conventional semiconductors usually suffer from low photoactivity and poor photostability. Here, atomically-thin oxide-based semiconductors are proposed as excellent platforms to overcome this drawback. As a prototype, single-unit-cell Bi2WO6 layers are first synthesized by virtue of a lamellar Bi-oleate intermediate. The single-unit-cell thickness allows 3-times larger CO2 adsorption capacity and higher photoabsorption than bulk Bi2WO6. Also, the increased conductivity, verified by density functional theory calculations and temperature-dependent resistivities, favors fast carrier transport. The carrier lifetime increased from 14.7 to 83.2 ns, revealed by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, which accounts for the improved electron-hole separation efficacy. As a result, the single-unit-cell Bi2WO6 layers achieve a methanol formation rate of 75 μmol g(-1) h(-1), 125-times higher than that of bulk Bi2WO6. The catalytic activity of the single-unit-cell layers proceeds without deactivation even after 2 days. This work will shed light on designing efficient and robust photoreduction CO2 catalysts.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Fengcai
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China). yfsun@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yongfu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Xingchen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Ju
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Shaista
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qamar
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P.R. China). yxie@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
keywords: atomic-layers; bismuth tungstate; methanol; solar CO2 reduction