Journal
APPLIED CATALYSIS B-ENVIRONMENTAL
Volume 174, Issue -, Pages 471-476Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2015.03.034
Keywords
Photocathode; Photocatalyst; Carbon dioxide; Photoelectrochemical reduction
Funding
- Advanced Catalytic Transformation program for Carbon utilization (ACT-C)
- Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
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We report a new p-type Cu3Nb2O8 as a thin film photocathode, which was fabricated through spin-coating by a metal organic decomposition method. The p-type Cu3Nb2O8 photocathode exhibited a strong cathodic photocurrent, and the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency plot confirmed that the p-type Cu3Nb2O8 photocathode has the ability to utilize the visible light (lambda < ca. 480 nm). Furthermore, we demonstrated photoelectrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide with the primary product being carbon monoxide by utilizing the p-type Cu3Nb2O8 photocathode under AM 1.5 G solar light irradiation. From the results of Mott-Schottky analysis, UV-vis measurement and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy, the conduction band potential of p-type Cu3Nb2O8 was estimated to be -1.21 V versus a normal hydrogen electrode (NHE) at pH 7 with its conduction band edge located at a more negative potential than the reduction potential of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide. Although the cathodic photocurrent of the p-type Cu3Nb2O8 photocathode gradually decayed with time, it recovered upon thermal annealing in air. This behavior suggests that the photocurrent response of the p-type Cu3Nb2O8 photocathode is intimately related to variation of the valence state of copper ions. In this paper, the photoelectrochemical properties of the p-type Cu3Nb2O8 photocathode are described in conjunction with optical, electrical and structural properties, and characteristics of the p-type Cu3Nb2O8 photocathode for the photoelectrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide are discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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