Direct Z-Scheme g-C 3 N 4 /FeWO 4 Nanocomposite for Enhanced and Selective Photocatalytic CO 2 Reduction under Visible Light
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to renewable solar fuels is considered to be a promising strategy to simultaneously solve both global warming and energy crises. However, development of a superior photocatalytic system with high product selectivity for CO 2 reduction under solar light is the prime requisite. Herein, a series of nature-inspired Z-scheme g C 3 N 4 /FeWO 4 composites are prepared for higher performance and selective CO 2 reduction to CO as solar fuel under solar light. The novel direct Z-scheme coupling of the visible light-active FeWO 4 nanoparticles with C 3 N 4 nanosheets is seen to exhibit excellent performance for CO production with a rate of 6 μmol/g/h at an ambient temperature, almost 6 times higher compared to pristine C 3 N 4 and 15 times higher than pristine FeWO 4 . More importantly, selectivity for CO is 100% over other carbon products from CO 2 reduction and more than 90% over H 2 products from water splitting. Our results clearly demonstrate that the staggered band structure between FeWO 4 and C 3 N 4 reflecting the nature-inspired Z-scheme system not only favors superior spatial separation of the electron–hole pair in g-C 3 N 4 /FeWO 4 but also shows good reusability. The present work provides unprecedented insights for constructing the direct Z-scheme by mimicking the nature for high performance and selective photocatalytic CO 2 reduction into solar fuels under solar light.
Language: English
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2911443767