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Photocatalytic CO2 reduction highly enhanced by oxygen vacancies on Pt-nanoparticle-dispersed gallium oxide

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Abstract

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction on metal-oxide-based catalysts is promising for solving the energy and environmental crises faced by mankind. The oxygen vacancy (V o) on metal oxides is expected to be a key factor affecting the efficiency of photocatalytic CO2 reduction on metal-oxide-based catalysts. Yet, to date, the question of how an V o influences photocatalytic CO2 reduction is still unanswered. Herein, we report that, on V o-rich gallium oxide coated with Pt nanoparticles (V o-rich Pt/Ga2O3), CO2 is photocatalytically reduced to CO, with a highly enhanced CO evolution rate (21.0 μmol·h−1) compared to those on V o-poor Pt/Ga2O3 (3.9 μmol·h−1) and Pt/TiO2(P25) (6.7 μmol·h−1). We demonstrate that the V o leads to improved CO2 adsorption and separation of the photoinduced charges on Pt/Ga2O3, thus enhancing the photocatalytic activity of Pt/Ga2O3. Rational fabrication of an V o is thereby an attractive strategy for developing efficient catalysts for photocatalytic CO2 reduction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Yun-Xiang Pan, Zheng-Qing Sun, Huai-Ping Cong, Yu-Long Men & Sen Xin

  2. Division of Nanomaterials & Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Chemistry, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Huai-Ping Cong & Shu-Hong Yu

  3. Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Jie Song

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Correspondence to Yun-Xiang Pan, Jie Song or Shu-Hong Yu.

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Pan, YX., Sun, ZQ., Cong, HP. et al. Photocatalytic CO2 reduction highly enhanced by oxygen vacancies on Pt-nanoparticle-dispersed gallium oxide. Nano Res. 9, 1689–1700 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1063-4

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