Enriching surface-ordered defects on WO₃ for photocatalytic CO₂-to-CH₄ conversion by water

Defect engineering has been widely applied in semiconductors to improve photocatalytic properties by altering the surface structures. This study is about the transformation of inactive WO₃ nanosheets to a highly effective CO₂-to-CH₄ conversion photocatalyst by introducing surface-ordered defects in abundance. The nonstoichiometric WO_3- samples were examined by using aberration-corrected electron microscopy. Results unveil abundant surface-ordered terminations derived from the periodic {013} stacking faults with a defect density of 20.2%. The {002} surface-ordered line defects are the active sites for fixation CO₂, transforming the inactive WO₃ nanosheets into a highly active catalyst (CH₄: O₂ = 8.2: 16.7 μmol h^-1). We believe that the formation of the W-O-C-W-O species is a critical step in the catalytic pathways. This work provides an atomic-level comprehension of the structural defects of catalysts for activating small molecules.