Facets and Defects in Perovskite Nanocrystals for Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Abstract

Light-emitting lead halide perovskite nanocrystals are typically obtained in a six-faceted cube shape. However, for applications such as catalysis, more active facets for the adsorption/desorption of reactants/products and the suppression of carrier recombination are essentially required. To meet these challenges, herein CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals in cube and faceted noncube shapes were explored for photocatalytic reductions of CO2. Importantly, halide-deficient dim multifaceted noncube emitters having less than 1% photoluminescence quantum yields showed superior catalytic activity compared to that of bright halide-rich cube nanocrystals. Beyond these, hexapod-shaped nanocrystals were also explored, and these remained in an intermediate state. With the support of density functional theory, the adsorption and desorption probabilities of reactants/products on different facets were also calculated and correlated with experimental findings. These results indicated that facets and defects of perovskite nanocrystals are equally important for carrying out catalytic reactions.