Visible light-responding perovskite oxide catalysts for photo-thermochemical CO2 reduction

Converting solar energy into chemical fuels can effectively match existing energy structures and mitigate climate change. An oxygen vacancies (Vox) based photo-thermochemical (PTC) method has characteristics of both photochemistry and thermochemistry, making it possible to use both solar light and heat. In this paper, perovskite oxide catalysts were prepared by a solvothermal method. Multiple experiments and characterizations were performed to investigate the reaction process. We also performed FDTD simulations to illustrate the plasmonic characteristics of the materials in the PTC. With the existence of Au nanoparticles, the stable production of CO had a maximum value of 7.28 mu mol/g h, achieved by 1.5 gold-nanoparticle-loaded SrTiO3.