Photocatalyic conversion of CO2 into useful solar fuels (such as CO, CH4, or CH3OH) is considered as the most promising strategy to resolve the problems of the depletion of fossil fuels and the greenhouse effect. Since Inoue et al. first reported photocatalytic CO2 reduction in a semiconductor aqueous suspension to produce hydrocarbon fuels, many research groups have studied the photocatalytic mechanism and efficiency of CO2 reduction over various semiconductors. However, a photocatalyst with high photocatalytic efficiency is still desired. Herein, we synthesized ZnO/g-C3N4 photocatalyst by a simple impregnation method. The prepared composite shows high efficiency in CO2 photoreduction. The 6wt.%ZnO/g-C3N4 exhibits a CO2 conversion rate of 50.3 umol�g�h-1, which is 6.1 and 5.35 times higher than that of ZnO and g-C3N4, respectively. A thorough investigation was carried out to disclose the structure and optical properties of the composite. Based on the result of investigation, the coupling effect between ZnO and g-C3N4 in separation of electron-hole pairs was considered as the origin of the high photoactivity.

High efficient conversion of CO2 to hydrocarbon fuel over ZnO/g-C3N4 photocatalyst

248th National Meeting (2014)

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