Shedding light on the nature of the catalytically active species in photocatalytic reactions using Bi2O3 semiconductor

Paola Riente (), Mauro Fianchini, Patricia Llanes, Miquel A. Pericàs and Timothy Noël ()
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Paola Riente: Eindhoven University of Technology
Mauro Fianchini: The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST)
Patricia Llanes: The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST)
Miquel A. Pericàs: The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST)
Timothy Noël: Eindhoven University of Technology

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The importance of discovering the true catalytically active species involved in photocatalytic systems allows for a better and more general understanding of photocatalytic processes, which eventually may help to improve their efficiency. Bi2O3 has been used as a heterogeneous photocatalyst and is able to catalyze several synthetically important visible-light-driven organic transformations. However, insight into the operative catalyst involved in the photocatalytic process is hitherto missing. Herein, we show through a combination of theoretical and experimental studies that the perceived heterogeneous photocatalysis with Bi2O3 in the presence of alkyl bromides involves a homogeneous BinBrm species, which is the true photocatalyst operative in the reaction. Hence, Bi2O3 can be regarded as a precatalyst which is slowly converted in an active homogeneous photocatalyst. This work can also be of importance to mechanistic studies involving other semiconductor-based photocatalytic processes.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20882-x

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