Photoelectrochemical activity of CuO-CdS heterostructured catalyst for CO<sub>2</sub> reduction
Mostafa Tarek, Kaykobad Md. Rezaul Karim, Sumaya Sarmin, Huei Ruey Ong, Hamidah Abdullah, Chin Kui Cheng, Md. Maksudur Rahman Khan
Abstract
Abstract The present study explored the efficiency of a p-n heterostructured hybrid catalyst CuO-CdS to convert CO 2 selectively into methanol by photoelectrochemical (PEC) method under concurrent visible light irradiation and a bias potential -0.4 V vs. NHE. The results showed that the inclusion of CdS with CuO significantly enhanced the activity of PEC CO 2 reduction to produce methanol by facilitating the separation of photogenerated electron-hole (e − /h + ) pairs through the p-n heterostructured architectures. The yield of methanol, the incident photon current efficiency (IPCE) and quantum efficiency (QE) in PEC CO 2 reduction were achieved 35.65 μmoleL −1 cm −2 , 20.24% and 24.11%, respectively. The present work bears a new understanding into the fabrication of high-performable artificial p-n type heterostructured catalyst which is capable to function as a catalyst for photocathode for the reduction of CO 2 and remarkable improvement in methanol yield under visible light illumination.