M/BiOCl-(M = Pt, Pd, and Au) Boosted Selective Photocatalytic CO₂ Reduction to C₂ Hydrocarbons via *CHO Intermediate...

Selective CO₂ photoreduction to C₂ hydrocarbons is significant but limited by the inadequate adsorption strength of the reaction intermediates and low efficiency of proton transfer. Herein, an ameliorative *CO adsorption and H₂O activation strategy is realized via decorating bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) nanostructures with different metal (Pt, Pd, and Au) species. Experimental and theoretical calculation results reveal that distinct *CO binding energies and *H acquisition abilities of the metal cocatalysts mediate the CO₂ reduction activity and hydrocarbon selectivity. The relatively moderate *CO adsorption and *H supply over Pd/BiOCl endows it with the lowest free energy to generate *CHO, leading to its highest activity of hydrocarbon production. Specifically, the Pt cocatalyst can efficiently participate in H₂O dissociation to deliver more *H for facilitating the protonation of the *CHO and *CHOH, thereby favoring CH₄ production with 76.51% selectivity. A lower *H supply over Pd/BiOCl and Au/BiOCl results in a large energy barrier for *CHO or *CHOH protonation and thus a more thermodynamically favored OC─CHO coupling pathway, which endows them with vastly increased C₂ hydrocarbon selectivity of 81.21% and 92.81%, respectively. The understanding of efficient C₂ hydrocarbon production in this study sheds light on how materials can be engineered for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction.