Shedding light on the nature of the catalytically active species in photocatalytic reactions using Bi2O3 semiconductor

Abstract

The identification of true catalytically active species allows for a better understanding of a catalytic process and its potential improvement. Here, the authors report that the perceived heterogeneous photocatalysis with Bi2O3 in the presence of alkyl bromides involves a homogeneous Bi n Br m species as the true photocatalyst.