Solar conversion of carbon dioxide and water vapor to carbon monoxide, hydrogen and hydrocarbons are demonstrated by exposure of titania-based nanophotocatlysts under ambient light only. TiO2 and WO3-core TiO2-shell nanorod arrays fabricated by glancing angle deposition are functionalized with quantum dots (CdSe) prepared by solution chemistry. These nanocomposite structures are used as the photocatalysts for CO2 conversion under sunlight illumination. A gas chromatographic analysis shows that the primary products are carbon monoxide, hydrogen and hydrocarbons (methanol and methane) after several hours of exposure to sun light. The overall CO2 conversion efficiency of such core-shell and quantum dot-titania nanostructures is significantly higher than that of pure TiO2 nanorod array photocatalyst. The improved conversion efficiency may result from the additional absorbance of visible light by WO3 and quantum dots and the charge separation at the WO3-TiO2and CdSe-TiO2 interfaces. The conversion efficiency of such an artificial photosynthesis process remains to be improved for practical applications.

Nanocomposite photocatalysts: Conversion of CO<sub>2</sub> to fuel<br />

249th National Meeting (2015)

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Nanocomposite photocatalysts: Conversion of CO2 to fuel<br />

Nanocomposite photocatalysts: Conversion of CO₂ to fuel<br />