Oxygen Vacancy Generation and Stabilization in CeO2–x by Cu Introduction with Improved CO2 Photocatalytic Reduction Activity

By Min Wang, Meng Shen, Xixiong Jin, Jianjian Tian, Mengli Li, Yajun Zhou, Lingxia Zhang, Yongsheng Li, Jianlin Shi. ACS Catalysis, 2019

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Introducing O vacancies into the lattice of a semiconductor photocatalyst can alter its intrinsic electronic properties and band gap, thus enhancing the visible light absorption, promoting the separation/transfer of photogenerated charge carriers, and resultantly elevating the photocatalytic activity of oxide semiconductors. Moreover, O vacancies can help adsorb and activate CO2 on photocatalyst surfaces, which, however, are prone to being filled by O atoms during the photoreduction reaction. In this work, Cu was introduced to increase the O vacancy concentration in CeO2–x and promote the photocatalytic activity of CeO2–x. The sample Cu/CeO2–x-0.1 showed the highest photocatalytic activity with a CO yield of 8.25 μmol g–1 under 5 h irradiation, which is ∼26 times that on CeO2–x. According to the analysis of Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra, it has been evidenced that Cu introduction benefits the chemical stabilization of O vacancies in CeO2–x during photocatalytic CO2 reduction, wh...

Subfields: Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9fcc4f3894ba9ed15ab14d166f3ae6f6b55ddab9