Photo-induced surface frustrated Lewis pairs for promoted photocatalytic decomposition of perfluorooctanoic acid

Heterogeneous photocatalysis has gained substantial research interest in treating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-contaminated water. However, sluggish degradation kinetics and low defluorination efficiency compromise their practical applications. Here, we report a superior photocatalyst, defected Bi3O(OH)(PO4)2, which could effectively degrade typical PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), with high defluorination efficiency. The UV light irradiation could in situ generate oxygen vacancies on Bi3O(OH)(PO4)2 through oxidation of the lattice hydroxyls, which further promotes the formation of Lewis acidic coordinately unsaturated bismuth sites. Then, the Lewis acidic sites couple with the proximal surface hydroxyls to constitute the surface frustrated Lewis pairs (SFLPs). With the in-depth spectroscopic analysis, we revealed that the photo-induced SFLPs act as collection centers to effectively adsorb PFOA and endow accessible pathways to transfer photogenerated holes to PFOA rapidly. Consequently, activation of the terminal carboxyl, a rate-limiting step for PFOA decomposition, could be easily achieved over the defected Bi3O(OH)(PO4)2 photocatalyst. These results suggest that SFLPs exhibit great potential in developing highly efficient photocatalysts to degrade persistent organic pollutants.