Direct and indirect Z-scheme heterostructure-coupled photosystem enabling cooperation of CO2 reduction and H2O oxidation

Ying Wang; Xiaotong Shang; Jinni Shen; Zizhong Zhang; Debao Wang; Jinjin Lin; Jeffrey C S Wu; Xianzhi Fu; Xuxu Wang; Can Li

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16742-3

Direct and indirect Z-scheme heterostructure-coupled photosystem enabling cooperation of CO₂ reduction and H₂O oxidation

Nat Commun. 2020 Jun 16;11(1):3043. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16742-3.

Authors

Ying Wang^{1

2}, Xiaotong Shang¹, Jinni Shen¹, Zizhong Zhang³, Debao Wang², Jinjin Lin¹, Jeffrey C S Wu⁴, Xianzhi Fu¹, Xuxu Wang⁵, Can Li⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, Research Institute of Photocatalysis, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, 350108, Fuzhou, China.
² Key Lab of Inorganic Synthetic and Applied Chemistry, State Key Lab Base of Eco-Chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science & Technology, 266042, Qingdao, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, Research Institute of Photocatalysis, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, 350108, Fuzhou, China. z.zhang@fzu.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, 10617, Taipei, Taiwan. cswu@ntu.edu.tw.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, Research Institute of Photocatalysis, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, 350108, Fuzhou, China. xwang@fzu.edu.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 116023, Dalian, China. canli@dicp.ac.cn.

Abstract

The stoichiometric photocatalytic reaction of CO₂ with H₂O is one of the great challenges in photocatalysis. Here, we construct a Cu₂O-Pt/SiC/IrO_x composite by a controlled photodeposition and then an artificial photosynthetic system with Nafion membrane as diaphragm separating reduction and oxidation half-reactions. The artificial system exhibits excellent photocatalytic performance for CO₂ reduction to HCOOH and H₂O oxidation to O₂ under visible light irradiation. The yields of HCOOH and O₂ meet almost stoichiometric ratio and are as high as 896.7 and 440.7 μmol g^-1 h^-1, respectively. The high efficiencies of CO₂ reduction and H₂O oxidation in the artificial system are attributed to both the direct Z-scheme electronic structure of Cu₂O-Pt/SiC/IrO_x and the indirect Z-scheme spatially separated reduction and oxidation units, which greatly prolong lifetime of photogenerated electrons and holes and prevent the backward reaction of products. This work provides an effective and feasible strategy to increase the efficiency of artificial photosynthesis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't