CO2 Reduction to Valuable Chemicals on TiO2-Carbon Photocatalysts Deposited on Silica Cloth

A new photocatalyst for CO2 reduction has been presented. The photocatalyst was prepared from a combination of a commercial P25 with a mesopore structure and carbon spheres with a microporous structure with high CO2 adsorption capacity. Then, the obtained hybrid TiO2-carbon sphere photocatalysts were deposited on a glass fiber fabric. The combined TiO2-carbon spheres/silica cloth photocatalysts showed higher efficiency in the two-electron CO2 reduction towards CO than in the eight-electron reaction to methane. The 0.5 g graphitic carbon spheres combined with 1 g of TiO2 P25 resulted in almost 100% selectivity to CO. From a practical point of view, this is promising as it economically eliminates the need to separate CO from the gas mixture after the reaction, which also contains CH4 and H-2.

Automated summary

A new photocatalyst for CO2 reduction has been developed, which shows high CO2 adsorption capacity and selectivity towards CO. The use of this photocatalyst eliminates the need for separating CO from the gas mixture after the reaction.