Anchoring 0D CeO2 Nanoparticles on 2D LaTiO2N Nanosheets for Efficient Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

The efficiency of photocatalytic reduction of CO2 with water to hydrocarbons is largely limited by high recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes in the photocatalysts. Herein, 0D/2D CeO2/LaTiO2N S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst prepared by simple in-situ hydrothermal approach realizes the overall conversion of gaseous CO2 and H2O without any sacrificial reagent and cocatalyst. The yields of CH4 and CO over CeO2/LaTiO2N sample under visible light for 3 h are 1.5 and 7.2 mu mol g(-1), and the corresponding utilized photoelectron number (UPN) is 26.4 mu mol g(-1), about 7.3 and 7.8 times that of individual LaTiO2N and CeO2, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of 0D/2D CeO2/LaTiO2N is attributed to the constitution of the S-scheme heterojunction, which effectively inhibits the recombination of photogenerated carriers. This study is expected to provide a new insight into the construction of efficient 0D/2D photocatalysts for visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction.

Automated summary

The study introduces a 0D/2D CeO2/LaTiO2N S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst for overall conversion of CO2 and H2O without sacrificial reagents, significantly improving the yields.