Activated g-C3N4 Photocatalyst with Defect Engineering for Efficient Reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> in Water
Zhenwei Tong, Yuyan Hai, Baodeng Wang, Fei Lv, Zhencheng Zhong, Rihua Xiong
Abstract
The conversion and utilization of CO 2 into hydrocarbon fuel using solar energy is an attractive way to reduce CO 2 emissions. In the photocatalytic CO 2 conversion process, a synergistic enhancement of both photoreaction and chemical reaction is quite important for promoting the conversion. Here, we present a facile method for preparing a defective and activated graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) photocatalyst, which exhibits a superior CO 2 -to-CO production of 32.06 μmol g –1 without sacrificial agent or noble metal. This is about 9.1 times higher than that of the defect containing g-C 3 N 4 (3.51 μmol g –1 ). The activated g-C 3 N 4, in which the TiO 2 species coexist, not only improved the CO production to 54.03 umol g –1 but also reduced CO 2 into CH 4 with 2.50 umol g –1 in 5 h. This is because the coexistence of TiO 2 species in activated g-C 3 N 4 promotes molecule and electron transfer, as observed through experimental characterization techniques. Therefore, this work provides a novel insight into the synthesis of multifunctional g-C 3 N 4 for efficient photocatalytic CO 2 reduction with H 2 O.