Selective photocatalytic reduction of nitric oxide to dinitrogen via bimetallic bond incorporation

In this study, we addressed the challenge of optimizing the first rate-limiting NO adsorbate state, which has received limited attention in previous research on the photoreduction of NO. We prepared BiFeWO₆ (BFWO), which improved not only the NO removal rate under illumination but also the selectivity of photocatalytic NO conversion to N₂. To further optimize the performance, we introduced platinum into BFWO, achieving a 57.5 % NO conversion rate with ∼80 % N₂ selectivity under 425 nm light-emitting diode illumination (50 mW/cm²), which is optimal for converting NO into less harmful compounds at low concentrations. Fe–O–Bi bonds were identified as the key active sites of the first rate-limiting NO adsorbate state in BFWO through time-resolved operando infrared (IR) spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) analysis. The specific adsorption configuration of NO on the Fe–O–Bi group accelerated the photoreduction reaction kinetics, resulting in superior photocatalytic NO removal performance.