New Insight into Procedure of Interface Electron Transfer through Cascade System with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

Recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs is extremely limited in the practical application of photocatalysis toward solving the energy crisis and environmental pollution. A rational design of the cascade system (i.e., rGO/Bi₂WO₆/Au, and ternary composites) with highly efficient charge carrier separation is successfully constructed. As expected, the integrated system (rGO/Bi₂WO₆/Au) shows enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to bare Bi₂WO₆ and other binary composites, and it is proved in multiple electron transfer (MET) behavior, namely a cooperative electron transfer (ET) cascade effect. Simultaneously, UV–vis/scanning electrochemical microscopy is used to directly identify MET kinetic information through an in situ probe scanning technique, where the “fast” and “slow” heterogeneous ET rate constants (K_eff) of corresponding photocatalysts on the different interfaces are found, which further reveals that the MET behavior is the prime source for enhanced photocatalytic activity. This work not only offers a new insight to study catalytic performance during photocatalysis and electrocatalysis systems, but also opens up a new avenue to design highly efficient catalysts in photocatalytic CO₂ conversion to useful chemicals and photovoltaic devices.