Boron Carbon Nitride Semiconductors Decorated with CdS Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2

Ternary boron carbon nitride (BCN) semiconductors have been developed as emerging metal-free photocatalysts for visible light reduction of COD but the achieved efficiency is still not satisfying. Herein, we report that the CO2 photoreduction performance of a bulk BCN semiconductor can be substantially improved by surface engineering with CdS nanoparticles. The CdS/BCN photocatalysts are characterized completely by diverse tests (e.g., XRD, FTIR, XPS, DRS, SEM, TEM, N-2 sorption, PL, and transient photocurrent spectroscopy). Performance of the CdS/BCN heterostructures is evaluated by reductive CO2 conversion reactions with visible light under benign reaction conditions. Compared with bare BCN material, the optimized CdS/BCN photocatalyst exhibits a 10-fold-enhanced CO, reduction activity and high stability, delivering a considerable CO production rate of 12.5 itmol h(-1) (250 mu mol h(-1) g(-1)) with triethanolamine (TEOA) as the reducing agent. The reinforced photocatalytic CO2 reduction activity is mainly assigned to the obviously improved visible-light harvesting and the greatly accelerated separation/transport kinetics of light-triggered electron hole pairs. Furthermore, a possible visible-light-induced CO2 reduction mechanism is proposed on the basis of photocatalytic and photo(electro)chemical results.