Abstract
The nanocomposite photocatalytic material, TiO2/g-C3N4, was successfully fabricated via spray drying and calcination to reduce CO2 to methanol. XRD, TEM, SEM and BET result shows the coordination of TiO2 nanoparticles with g-C3N4 nanosheets. Band edge calculation of TiO2/g-C3N4 heterostructure depicts type II heterojunction photocatalyst, for enhanced charge separation or reduced charge recombination. Our optimized result suggests the layered g-C3N4 material has close interaction with the TiO2 particles, which fosters the light-harvesting, charge transferring and electron hole pair separation to enhance the photoactivity. Significant enhancement in photo-reduction of CO2 to methanol was observed compared to bare TiO2 and g-C3N4. The yield of methanol over the composite was 31.7 µmol/gcat after 4 h of irradiation, which was 2.3 times more than those over pure C3N4. This work demonstrates the development of an efficient semiconductor composite with charge separation playing a crucial role in CO2 reduction reactions.
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The authors would like to thank Indian Institute of Technology Delhi for financial support. The authors would like to thank Department of Science and Technology, Government of India under Technology Mission Division (Sanction no. TM/EWO/MI/CCUS/19C).
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Singh, S., Modak, A. & Pant, K.K. CO2 Reduction to Methanol Using a Conjugated Organic–Inorganic Hybrid TiO2–C3N4 Nano-assembly. Trans Indian Natl. Acad. Eng. 6, 395–404 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41403-021-00201-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41403-021-00201-6