Constructing Ordered Three-Dimensional TiO2 Channels for Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Performance in CO2 Conversion Induced by Au Nanoparticles

Hairong Xue; Tao Wang; Hao Gong; Hu Guo; Xiaoli Fan; Bin Gao; Yaya Feng; Xianguang Meng; Xianli Huang; Jianping He

doi:10.1002/asia.201701807

Constructing Ordered Three-Dimensional TiO₂ Channels for Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Performance in CO₂ Conversion Induced by Au Nanoparticles

Chem Asian J. 2018 Mar 2;13(5):577-583. doi: 10.1002/asia.201701807. Epub 2018 Feb 15.

Authors

Hairong Xue^{1

2}, Tao Wang², Hao Gong², Hu Guo², Xiaoli Fan², Bin Gao², Yaya Feng², Xianguang Meng³, Xianli Huang², Jianping He²

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310014, P. R. China.
² College of Materials Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Materials and Technology for Energy Conversion, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, P.R. China.
³ Photofunctional Materials Research Platform, College of Materials Science and Engineering, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, 063210, P. R. China.

PMID: 29323788
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201701807

Abstract

As a typical photocatalyst for CO₂ reduction, practical applications of TiO₂ still suffer from low photocatalytic efficiency and limited visible-light absorption. Herein, a novel Au-nanoparticle (NP)-decorated ordered mesoporous TiO₂ (OMT) composite (OMT-Au) was successfully fabricated, in which Au NPs were uniformly dispersed on the OMT. Due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect derived from the excited Au NPs, the TiO₂ shows high photocatalytic performance for CO₂ reduction under visible light. The ordered mesoporous TiO₂ exhibits superior material and structure, with a high surface area that offers more catalytically active sites. More importantly, the three-dimensional transport channels ensure the smooth flow of gas molecules, highly efficient CO₂ adsorption, and the fast and steady transmission of hot electrons excited from the Au NPs, which lead to a further improvement in the photocatalytic performance. These results highlight the possibility of improving the photocatalysis for CO₂ reduction under visible light by constructing OMT-based Au-SPR-induced photocatalysts.

Keywords: carbon dioxide reduction; mesoporous materials; nanoparticles; photochemistry; surface plasmon resonance.