Experimental Evidence of CO<sub>2</sub> Photoreduction Activity of SnO<sub>2</sub> Nanoparticles
Juliana A. Torres, Gelson T. S. T. da Silva, Fernando Barbosa de Freitas Silva, Cauê Ribeiro
Abstract
Abstract Tin dioxide (SnO 2 ) has intrinsic characteristics that do not favor its photocatalytic activity. However, we evidenced that surface modification can positively influence its performance for CO 2 photoreduction in the gas phase. The hydroxylation of the SnO 2 surface played a role in the CO 2 affinity decreasing its reduction potential. The results showed that a certain selectivity for methane (CH 4 ), carbon monoxide (CO), and ethylene (C 2 H 4 ) is related to different SnO 2 hydrothermal annealing. The best performance was seen for SnO 2 annealed at 150 °C, with a production of 20.4 μmol g −1 for CH 4 and 16.45 μmol g −1 for CO, while for SnO 2 at 200 °C the system produced more C 2 H 4 , probably due to a decrease of surface −OH groups.