HKUST-1 Derived Hollow C-Cu2-xS Nanotube/g-C3N4 Composites for Visible-Light CO2 Photoreduction with H2O Vapor

As the main component of syngas, reducing CO2 to CO with high selectivity through photocatalysis could provide a sustainable way to alleviate energy shortage issues. Developing a photocatalytic system with low cost and high performance that is environmentally friendly is the ultimate goal towards CO2 photoreduction. Herein, an efficient and economic three-component heterojunction photocatalyst is designed and fabricated for converting CO2 to CO in the absence of organic sacrificial agents. The heterojunction is made of Cu2-xS nanotubes coated with a carbon layer (C-Cu2-xS) and g-C3N4. By using the classical MOF material HKUST-1 as a precursor, hollow tubular-like metal sulfides (C-Cu2-xS) with carbon coating were synthesized and further loaded on g-C3N4, forming a three-component heterojunction C-Cu2-xS@g-C3N4. The carbon coat in C-Cu2-xS@g-C3N4 acts as an electron reservoir, which facilitates electron-hole pair separation. The optimized C-Cu2-xS@g-C3N4 acted as a photocatalyst in CO2 reduction with a high reactivity of 1062.6 mu mol g(-1) and selectivity of 97 %. Compared with bare g-C3N4 (158.4 mu mol g(-1)) and C-Cu2-xS, the reactivity is nearly 7 and 23-fold enhanced and this CO generation rate is higher than most of the reported Cu2S or g-C3N4 composites under similar conditions. The prominent activity may result from enhanced light adsorption and effective charge separation. This work might open up an alternative method for the design and fabrication of high-performance and low-cost photocatalysts for efficiently and durably converting CO2 to CO with high selectivity.