Facile synthesis of Al-g-C3N4/Bi2S3 with enhanced for CO2 cycloaddition reaction performance

•A clever one-step calcination method was used to prepare catalysts with both photocatalytic and thermal catalytic properties.•The activity and stability of the catalyst are relatively high.•Synthesized heterogeneous catalysts that facilitate the separation of reaction solution and catalyst. In this paper, a high specific surface area lamellar heterogeneous composite catalyst (MCN) was synthesized for the cycloaddition reaction of CO2 and epoxides. MCN is doped aluminum with high catalytic activity in Bi2S3 and g-C3N4 with photocatalytic activity, and it was prepared by a facile one-step calcination method. This catalyst achieved 88 % and 97 % conversion and selectivity for the cycloaddition reaction of epichlorohydrin and CO2 with no change in yield after five cycles. In addition, the two compositions of Bi2S3 and g-C3N4 in MCN resulted in enhanced light absorption of the catalyst, thus providing some photothermal performance. This paper provides an idea for the design of bifunctional catalysts with Lewis acid-base.