
Article Title
Scalable fabrication of SnO2/eo-GO nanocomposites for the photoreduction of CO2 to CH4
Keywords
spray drying, artificial photosynthesis, CO2 photoreduction, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS)
Abstract
ABSTRACT Artificial photosynthesis uses a catalyst to convert CO2 into valuable hydrocarbon products by cleaving the C=O bond. However, this technology is strongly limited by two issues, namely insufficient catalytic efficiency and complicated catalyst-fabrication processes. Herein, we report the development of a novel spray-drying photocatalyst-engineering process that addresses these two issues. Through one-step spray drying, with a residence time of 1.5 s, nanocomposites composed of tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles and edge-oxidized graphene oxide (eo-GO) sheets were fabricated without post-treatment. These nanocomposites exhibited 28-fold and five-fold enhancements in photocatalytic efficiency during CO2 reduction compared to SnO2 and commercialized TiO2 (P25), respectively, after irradiation with simulated sunlight for 4 h. This scalable approach, based on short residence times and facile equipment setup, promotes the practical application of artificial photosynthesis through the potential mass production of efficient photocatalysts.
Graphical Abstract
Publisher
Tsinghua University Press
Recommended Citation
Yujia Liang,Wei Wu,Peng Wang,Sz-Chian Liou,Dongxia Liu,Sheryl H. Ehrman, Scalable fabrication of SnO2/eo-GO nanocomposites for the photoreduction of CO2 to CH4. NanoRes.2018, 11(8): 4049–4061