Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 on FeTiO3/TiO2 photocatalyst

A uniform heterojunction photocatalyst of FeTiO3/TiO2 composite (FTC) was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. The structure, morphology, and spectral properties of FTC were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The FeTiO3 content can be easily tuned by tailoring the precursor amount. The FTC exhibits remarkable photocatalytic activity on CO2 reduction to CH3OH under both visible and UV-Vis light irradiation, presumably due to its unique band structures and the efficient charge transfer between two semiconductors as well as the low band gap of FeTiO3. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.