Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 1, 2025

A Facile Synthetic Method to Obtain Bismuth Oxyiodide Microspheres Highly Functional for the Photocatalytic Processes of Water Depuration
Published on: March 29, 2019
Insights into Dynamic Surface Bromide Sites in Bi4 O5 Br2 for Sustainable N2 Photofixation
Xing'an Dong1,2, Zhihao Cui3, Xian Shi1
1Research Center for Environmental and Energy Catalysis, Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Simulating photosynthesis has long been one of the ideas for realizing the conversion of solar energy into industrial chemicals. Heterogeneous N2 photofixation in water is a promising way for sustainable production of ammonia. However, a mechanistic understanding of the complex aqueous photocatalytic N2 reduction is still lacking. In this study, a light-dependent surface hydrogenation mechanism and light-independent protection of catalyst surface for N2 reduction are revealed on ultrathin Bi4 O5 Br2 (BOB) nanosheets, in which the creation and annihilation of surface bromine vacancies can be controlled via a surface bromine cycle. Our rapid scan in situ FT-IR spectra verify that photocatalytic N2 reduction proceeds through an associative alternating mechanism on BOB surface with bromine vacancies (BrV-BOB). This work provides a new strategy to combine light-dependent facilitated reaction with light-independent regeneration of catalyst for advancing sustainable ammonia production.
More Related Videos
10:19Solution-Processed "Silver-Bismuth-Iodine" Ternary Thin Films for Lead-Free Photovoltaic Absorbers
Published on: September 27, 2018
08:12Low Pressure Vapor-assisted Solution Process for Tunable Band Gap Pinhole-free Methylammonium Lead Halide Perovskite Films
Published on: September 8, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution: Fluorination and Iodination of Benzene
Radical Substitution: Allylic Bromination
Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution: Chlorination and Bromination of Benzene
Hybridization of Atomic Orbitals I
Halogenation of Alkenes
Consider the bromination of cyclopentene. Molecular bromine is polarized in the proximity of the π electrons of cyclopentene. An electrophilic bromine atom adds across the double bond, forming a cyclic bromonium ion intermediate.