Synthesis of lead-free Cs₃Sb₂Br₉ perovskite alternative nanocrystals with enhanced photocatalytic CO₂ reduction activity

Abstract

A synthetic method for uniform and pure Cs3Sb2Br9 NCs has been developed. Cs3Sb2Br9 NCs exhibit a 10-fold increase in activity for the photocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction compared to CsPbBr3 NCs, achieving 510 μmol CO g-1 cat. after 4 h. Density functional theory shows that Cs3Sb2Br9 surfaces sufficiently expose Sb to allow reactivity, as opposed to the unreactive CsPbBr3 surface.