Modulating the Selectivity of Photocatalytic CO_(2)Reduction in Barium Titanate by Introducing Oxygen Vacancies

Artifi cial photosynthetic reduction of CO_(2) into valuable chemicals is one of the most promising approaches to solve the energy crisis and decreasing atmospheric CO_(2) emissions.However,the poor selectivity accompanied by the low activity of photocatalysts limits the development of photocatalytic CO_(2) reduction.Herein,inspired by the use of oxygen vacancy engi-neering to promote the adsorption and activation of CO_(2) molecules,we introduced oxygen vacancies in the representative barium titanate(BaTiO 3)photocatalyst for photocatalytic CO_(2) reduction.We found that oxygen vacancies brought signifi cant diff erences in the CO_(2) photoreduction activity and selectivity of BaTiO 3.The intrinsic BaTiO 3 showed a low photocatalytic activity with the dominant product of CO,whereas BaTiO 3 with oxygen vacancies exhibited a tenfold improvement in photocatalytic activity,with a high selectivity of~90%to CH 4.We propose that the presence of oxygen vacancies promotes CO_(2) and H 2 O adsorption onto the BaTiO 3 surface and also improves the separation and transfer of photogenerated carriers,thereby boosting the photocatalytic CO_(2) reduction to CH 4.This work highlights the essential role of oxygen vacancies in tuning the selectivity of photocatalytic reduction of CO_(2) into valuable chemicals.