The interfacial coupling effect plays a crucial role in tailoring the photoelectrochemical performance of heterostructured photocatalysts. However, it is an urgent need but challenging to intensify the interfacial coupling effect of heterojunctions. Herein, we proposed the surface precleaning of n-type TiO₂via a facile low-temperature hydrogenation to facilitate strong coupling with p-type Bi₂O₃ (Bi₂O₃/c-TiO₂) and thus disruptively accelerate the electron transfer and electron–hole pair separation. The comparative studies of uncleaned Bi₂O₃/TiO₂ and Bi₂O₃/c-TiO₂ heterostructures by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed an unneglected valence change and thus a highly strong coupling effect between Bi₂O₃ and the cleaned TiO₂ originating from a possible weakening role of the nitrogen species adsorbed on the surface of pristine TiO₂ for the interfacial coupling effect. When integrated into a photoelectrochemical sensor, Bi₂O₃/c-TiO₂ presented both significantly high detection photocurrent response and selectivity for organics in a buffer solution. The current response of the as-built Bi₂O₃/c-TiO₂ was two-fold higher than that of uncleaned Bi₂O₃/TiO₂ and was even almost five-fold that of bulk TiO₂. We believe that this work will provide new perspectives and insights into the construction of efficient heterojunctions for impressive applications in photoelectrochemical detection.

中文翻译：

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表面预清洁策略增强了Bi2O3 / TiO2异质结构的界面耦合，以增强光电化学检测性能

界面偶联效应在调整异质结构光催化剂的光电化学性能中起着至关重要的作用。然而，迫切需要但要增强异质结的界面耦合作用具有挑战性。在这里，我们提出了一种通过便捷的低温加氢对n型TiO ₂进行表面预清洁的方法，以促进与p型Bi ₂ O ₃（Bi ₂ O ₃ / c -TiO ₂）的强耦合，从而破坏性地加速电子转移。和电子-空穴对分离。未清洗的Bi ₂ O ₃ / TiO ₂和Bi ₂的比较研究X射线光电子能谱分析的O ₃ / c -TiO ₂异质结构显示出不可忽略的化合价变化，因此Bi ₂ O ₃与净化后的TiO ₂之间的强耦合效应源于吸附在表面的氮物质的可能减弱作用。 TiO ₂的界面偶联作用。当集成到光电化学传感器中时，Bi ₂ O ₃ / c -TiO ₂表现出很高的检测光电流响应和对缓冲溶液中有机物的选择性。竣工Bi ₂的当前响应O ₃ / c -TiO ₂是未清洗的Bi ₂ O ₃ / TiO ₂的两倍，甚至是本体TiO ₂的五倍。我们相信，这项工作将为构建高效异质结提供新的见解和见解，从而在光电化学检测中获得令人印象深刻的应用。