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Visible‐Light Photocatalytic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide into Methane Using Cu 2 O/TiO 2 Hollow Nanospheres
Author(s) -
Bi Feng,
Ehsan Muhammad Fahad,
Liu Wei,
He Tao
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chinese journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1614-7065
pISSN - 1001-604X
DOI - 10.1002/cjoc.201400476
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , visible spectrum , chemistry , diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform , scanning electron microscope , titanium dioxide , irradiation , spectroscopy , transmission electron microscopy , catalysis , photochemistry , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , materials science , composite material , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , nuclear physics , engineering , physics
In the past few decades there has been a remarkable rise in the study of visible‐light photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into value‐added chemicals such as methane (CH 4 ) with water as reducing agent in order to prevent global warming and energy crisis. However, so far the conversion efficiency leaves much to be enhanced under sunlight irradiation. In this work, Cu 2 O hollow nanospheres were synthesized via soft‐template method and were combined with TiO 2 through in‐situ hydrolysis of Ti(OBu) 4 under sonication. The obtained photocatalysts of Cu 2 O and Cu 2 O/TiO 2 composite were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, UV‐visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Compared to Cu 2 O hollow nanospheres, the Cu 2 O/TiO 2 composite exhibited higher efficiency in photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 into CH 4 under visible‐light irradiation ( λ ⪖420 nm). This is because of the formation of a p‐n heterojunction in the composites, resulting in efficient suppression of recombination of the photogenerated electrons and holes as well as an improved stability of the catalyst and, thereby, the improved visible‐light photocatalytic activity.