Halogen bonding induced aqueously stable CsPbBr3@MOFs-Derived Co3O4/N-doped-C heterostructure for high-performance photoelectrochemical water oxidation

Abstract Recently, inorganic perovskite shows great potential in photocatalysis, while intrinsic instability against moisture seriously hinders its application in water splitting. Herein, a facile co-precipitation-calcination strategy is applied to prepare novel aqueous-stable CsPbBr3@MOFs-derived Co3O4/N-doped-C heterostructures (CPB@Co3O4/N C) with excellent photoelectrochemical water oxidation performance. Unique N-Br halogen bonds between Pyrrodic-N from N C frameworks and Br-atoms from CPB chemically immobilize CPB on N C layers, enhancing the aqueous-stability of CPB@Co3O4/N C by prohibiting CPB decomposition. Furthermore, benefitting from the type-II heterojunction at CPB and Co3O4/N C interface, system carrier-separation performance can be significantly improved. Meanwhile, acting as water oxidation center, Co3O4/N C can obviously enhance the interfacial carrier-injection efficiency of CPB. The rationally designed CPB@Co3O4/N C achieves boosted photocurrent-density and carrier migration of 2.50 mA cm−2 and 41.40 %, which are 9.61 and 12.24 times larger than pristine CPB. This work sets up a new strategy to synthesize CPB-based material with excellent aqueous-stability, for promising catalysis and other optoelectronic devices.