Lanthanide–Titanium Oxo Cluster and BiVO<sub>4</sub> Z-Scheme Photocatalyst Sheets for Carbon Dioxide Reduction
Rong Chen, Qingjie Wang, Guodong Gao, Linxiao Wu, Jingshan Luo
Abstract
Solar-driven CO 2 reduction presents a promising approach to achieving carbon neutrality by closing the anthropogenic carbon cycle. However, the development of efficient and stable CO 2 photoconversion systems without sacrificial reagents remains a challenge. Herein, we introduce a scalable Z-scheme photocatalyst sheet composed of lanthanide–titanium oxo cluster Eu 2 Ti 4 (μ 2 -O) 2 (μ 3 -O) 4 ((CH 3 ) 3 CCOO) 10 (THF) 2 (referred to as Eu 2 Ti 4 ) and BiVO 4 for photocatalytic CO 2 reduction. The photocatalyst sheet, incorporating a gold mediator layer (BiVO 4 |Au|Eu 2 Ti 4 ), demonstrated a high average electron conversion and hole consumption rate of 1.96 μmol h –1 cm –1, along with a CO production rate of 0.38 μmol h –1 cm –2, a CH 4 production rate of 0.11 μmol h –1 cm –2, and simultaneous O 2 generation. The solar-to-fuel (STF) conversion efficiency of the system reaches 0.052%. Notably, the photocatalytic sheet enables overall photocatalytic CO 2 reduction using water as the electron donor. Our findings offer a scalable approach for CO 2 reduction using solar energy.