Brookite TiO Nanoparticles Decorated with Ag/MnO Dual Cocatalysts for Remarkably Boosted Photocatalytic Performance of the CO Reduction Reaction.

The solar-driven CO reduction reaction (CORR) for producing chemical fuels is considered to be a promising approach to dealing with the growing energy crisis and greenhouse effect. Herein, novel Ag/MnO dual-cocatalyst-decorated brookite titania (BT) nanoparticles with remarkably boosted photocatalytic CORR performance are prepared through a facile photodeposition method. The resultant Ag-BT-Mn composite with optimal cocatalyst content delivers amazing CO/CH yields of 31.70/129.98 μmol g with an overall photoactivity of 1103.28 μmol g h, 11.98 times higher than that of the BT nanoparticles alone. Further investigations demonstrate that the dual cocatalysts decorating the BT nanoparticles not only effectively retard the photoinduced charge recombination but also significantly vary the surface chemical feature to promote the adsorption/activation of the reactants (CO/HO). In addition, the Ag nanoparticles can broaden the spectral response region, while the MnO cocatalyst can promote the CH product selectivity and the water oxidation reaction. The synergistic effect of Ag/MnO dual cocatalysts on the BT nanoparticles renders a remarkably boosted CORR performance, which provides a simple yet general synthesis strategy for brookite titania-based photocatalysts with high-performance solar-driven CO conversion.