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Review
. 2017 Jun 16;2(6):2740-2748.
doi: 10.1021/acsomega.7b00721. eCollection 2017 Jun 30.

Recent Progress in the Photocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

Affiliations
Review

Recent Progress in the Photocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

S R Lingampalli et al. ACS Omega. .

Abstract

Elimination or reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere is a serious problem faced by humankind, and it has become imperative for chemists to find ways of transforming undesirable CO2 to useful chemicals. One of the best means is the use of solar energy for the photochemical reduction of CO2. In spite of considerable efforts, discovery of stable photocatalysts which work in the absence of scavengers has remained a challenge although encouraging results have been obtained in the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 in both gas and liquid phases. Semiconductor-based catalysts, multicomponent semiconductors, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and dyes as well as composites involving novel composite materials containing C3N4 and MoS2 have been employed for the photoreduction process. Semiconductor heterostructures, especially those containing bimetallic alloys as well as chemical modification of oxides and other materials with aliovalent anion substitution (N3- and F- in place of O2-), remain worthwhile efforts. In this article, we provide a brief perspective of the present status of photocatalytic reduction of CO2 in both liquid and gas phases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Schematic illustration of mechanism and (b) relative energy levels of photocatalytic reduction of CO2 on a semiconductor photocatalyst.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic of the possible CO2 adsorption configurations on surfaces of photocatalysts. Reproduced with permission from ref (7).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Photocatalytic CO2 reduction on (a) Ag-NaTaO3:Ca, (b) Ag-NaTaO3:Sr, and (c) Ag-NaTaO3:Ba in the liquid phase under UV irradiation. Figure legends: hydrogen (open circle), oxygen (solid circle), and CO (triangle). Reproduced with permission from ref (26).
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Electronic absorption spectra of nitridation products of Zn2GeO4 and (b) corresponding photocatalytic methane product activities. (c) Curve depicting the recyclability and stablitity of the photocatalyst. Reproduced with permission from ref (27).
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Schematic diagram of the proposed mechanism of light-induced charge transfer in C5H5–RuH–TiO2. (b) Electron decay kinetics CpRu0.5/TiO2 and TiO2. (c) Reduction of CO2 to CH4 on CpRu0.5/TiO2 under visible-light irradiation. (d) Dependence of CH4 evolution with varying the Ru content. Reproduced with permission from ref (28).
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Schematic diagram, (b) TEM, and (c) SEM images of Cu3(BTC)2@TiO2 (BTC-benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate). (d) CO2 uptake and (d) comparison of CO2 reduction activities on Cu3(BTC)2@TiO2 (BTC-benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) and Cu3(BTC)2@TiO2 (BTC-benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate). Reproduced with permission from ref (29).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Comparison of (a) density of states and (b) relative band positions in (001) and (101) facets of TiO2. (c) Photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CH4 with different ratios of (001) to (010) facets in TiO2. Reproduced with permission from ref (35).
Figure 8
Figure 8
(a) Comparison of tauc plots of N,F-TiO2 (TiO1.8N0.1F0.1) and undoped TiO2. (b) Comparison of reduction of CO2 to CO on Ag, Au, and Pt deposited N,F-TiO2 with bare N,F-TiO2 under the irradiation of sunlight. (c) and (d) Comparison of reduction of CO2 to CO on TiO2:N,F-TiO2 homojunctions with individual TiO2 and N,F-TiO2 under the irradiation of sunlight.
Figure 9
Figure 9
(a) Schematic illustration of the process of charge transfer and CO2 reduction in Cu2ZnSnS4/TiO2 heterostructures. (b) Comparison of photocatalytic activities of Cu2ZnSnS4/TiO2 with different compositions and individual Cu2ZnSnS4 and TiO2. Reproduced with permission from ref (44).
Figure 10
Figure 10
(a) Comparison of photocatalytic activities and (b) schematic illustration of process of charge transfer and CO2 reduction in ZnO/Ag1–xCux/CdS (x = 0–0.75) heterostructures.
Figure 11
Figure 11
(a) Schematic illustration of the process of Z-scheme charge transfer and CO2 reduction in α-Fe2O3/Cu2O heterostructures. (b) Comparison of yield of CO production with varying the Cu content in these heterostructures. Reproduced with permission from ref (38).
Figure 12
Figure 12
(a) Schematic illustration of the process of Z-scheme charge transfer and CO2 reduction and (b) photocatalytic evolution of H2, O2, and CO in CuGaS2–RGO–TiO2 under UV–visible light irradiation. Reproduced with permission from ref (53).

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