Selective CO2reduction to HCOOH on a Pt/In2O3/g-C3N4multifunctional visible-photocatalyst

Selective photocatalytic reduction of CO(2)has been regarded as one of the most amazing ways for re-using CO2. However, its application is still limited by the low CO(2)conversion efficiency. This work developed a novel Pt/In2O3/g-C(3)N(4)multifunctional catalyst, which exhibited high activity and selectivity to HCOOH during photocatalytic CO(2)reduction under visible light irradiation owing to the synergistic effect between photocatalyst, thermocatalyst, and heterojunctions. Both In(2)O(3)and g-C(3)N(4)acted as visible photocatalysts, in which porous g-C(3)N(4)facilitated H(2)production from water splitting while the In(2)O(3)nanosheets embedded in g-C(3)N(4)pores favored CO(2)fixation and H adsorption onto the Lewis acid sites. Besides, the In2O3/g-C(3)N(4)heterojunctions could efficiently inhibit the photoelectron-hole recombination, leading to enhanced quantum efficiency. The Pt could act as a co-catalyst in H(2)production from photocatalytic water splitting and also accelerated electron transfer to inhibit electron-hole recombination and generated a plasma effect. More importantly, the Pt could activate H atoms and CO(2)molecules toward the formation of HCOOH. At normal pressure and room temperature, the TON of HCOOH in CO(2)conversion was 63.1 mu mol g(-1)h(-1)and could reach up to 736.3 mu mol g(-1)h(-1)at 40 atm.