Fu Junwei, Cao Shaowen, Yu Jiaguo, Low Jingxiang, Lei Yongpeng
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China.
Dalton Trans. 2014 Jun 28;43(24):9158-65. doi: 10.1039/c4dt00181h.
Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into renewable hydrocarbon fuels using semiconductor photocatalysts is considered as a potential solution to the energy deficiency and greenhouse effect. In this work, mesoporous TiO2 nanofibers with high specific surface areas and abundant surface hydroxyl groups are prepared using an electrospinning strategy combined with a subsequent calcination process, followed by a solvothermal treatment. The solvothermally treated mesoporous TiO2 nanofibers exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance on CO2 reduction into hydrocarbon fuels. The significantly improved photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the enhanced CO2 adsorption capacity and the improved charge separation after solvothermal treatment. The highest activity is achieved for the sample with a 2-h solvothermal treatment, showing 6- and 25-fold higher CH4 production rate than those of TiO2 nanofibers without solvothermal treatment and P25, respectively. This work may also provide a prototype for studying the effect of solvothermal treatment on the structure and photocatalytic activity of semiconductor photocatalysts.
使用半导体光催化剂将二氧化碳光催化还原为可再生碳氢燃料被认为是解决能源短缺和温室效应的一种潜在解决方案。在这项工作中，采用静电纺丝策略结合后续煅烧过程，然后进行溶剂热处理，制备了具有高比表面积和丰富表面羟基的介孔TiO₂纳米纤维。经溶剂热处理的介孔TiO₂纳米纤维在将二氧化碳还原为碳氢燃料方面表现出优异的光催化性能。光催化活性的显著提高可归因于溶剂热处理后二氧化碳吸附能力的增强和电荷分离的改善。经2小时溶剂热处理的样品实现了最高活性，其CH₄产率分别比未经溶剂热处理的TiO₂纳米纤维和P25高6倍和25倍。这项工作还可为研究溶剂热处理对半导体光催化剂结构和光催化活性的影响提供一个原型。
