Article Title

Scalable fabrication of SnO₂/eo-GO nanocomposites for the photoreduction of CO₂ to CH₄

Authors

Yujia Liang, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Wei Wu, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Peng Wang, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Sz-Chian Liou, Advanced Imaging and Microscopy (AIM) Lab, Nano Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Dongxia Liu, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Sheryl H. Ehrman, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA

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

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-018-1988-x

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