Synergy between plasmonic and sites on gold nanoparticle-modified bismuth-rich bismuth oxybromide nanotubes for the efficient photocatalytic CC coupling synthesis of ethane.

The photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO) to fossil fuels has attracted widespread attention. However, obtaining the high value-added hydrocarbons, especially C products, remains a considerable challenge. Herein, gold (Au) nanoparticle-modified bismuth-rich bismuth oxybromide BiOBr nanotube composites were designed and tested. Au nanoparticles act as electron traps and thermal electron donors that promote the efficient separation and migration of carriers to form the C product. As a result, compared with the pure BiOBr nanotubes, Au@BiOBr composites can not only produce the carbon monoxide (CO) and methane (CH), but also covert CO into ethane (CH). In this study, Au@BiOBr-700 was used to obtain a CH production rate of 29.26 μmol h g. The selectivities during a 5-hour test reached 94.86% for hydrocarbons and 90.81% for CH. The proposed approach could be used to design high-performance photocatalysts to convert CO into high value-added hydrocarbon products.