A novel S-scheme heterojunction of CsPbBr3 nanocrystals/AgBr nanorods for artificial photosynthesis

Construction of S-scheme heterojunctions has been regarded as an appealing strategy to explore efficient photocatalysts for artificial photosynthesis. Herein, a unique 0D/1D S-scheme heterojunction of CsPbBr3/AgBr (CPB/AgBr) was developed by assembling CsPbBr3 nanocrystals (NCs) onto AgBr nanorods. The effective S-scheme electron transfer between CsPbBr3 and AgBr boosted charge separation while also maintained the strongly reductive electrons for CO2 reduction, as proved by electron spin resonance (ESR), steady state photoluminescence (PL), time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL), etc. As a consequence, The CPB/AgBr heterojunction achieved remarkable photocatalytic performance in CO2 reduction, with a high electron consumption rate (Relectron) of 141.4 μmol g−1h−1, which was 3.0 times that of pristine CsPbBr3 and 1.65 times that of AgBr, respectively. The current work presents a novel lead halide perovskite (PVK) based S-scheme heterojunction, which is expected to provide some insights into the development of new efficient photocatalysts based on PVKs for solar fuel applications.