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Core@shell-structured catalysts based on Mg-O-Cu bond for highly selective photoreduction of carbon dioxide to methane

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Abstract

It is still challenging for selectively and efficiently photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into desirable energy-rich carbon compounds. Herein, a robust noble metal free photocatalyst was reported for selective reduction of CO2 to CH4 using MgO-coated Cu2O composite based on Mg-O-Cu bond. The nanosphere MgO greatly enhanced the photo-corrosion resistance with good cycling stability. Meanwhile, Cu2O effectively undergoes the photoreduction of CO2 for CH4 production under visible-light irradiation with the selectivity of 86.8%, outperforming most reported noble metal photocatalysts under similar conditions. In addition, DFT calculations demonstrate the reaction mechanism of Cu2O@MgO photocatalytic reduction of CO2. High selectivity was realized over Cu2O@MgO in this work, which provides an innovative way to synthesize the cost-effective photocatalytic materials for CO2 reduction and utilization.

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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Zhanhua Huang, Dr. Houjuan Qi and Dr. Jinguang Hu for the guidance and help in the experiment and writing of the paper.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32071713), Innovation Training Program for College Students (No. 202210225471), and the Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars of Heilongjiang Province (JQ2019C001).

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  1. Junming Shi and Aiguo Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Bio-Based Material Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Material Science and Engineering College, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China

    Junming Shi, Junming Shi, Aiguo Wang, Yulong An, Shuai Chen, Chunyu Bi, Lanni Qu, Cai Shi, Fuyan Kang & Zhanhua Huang

  2. Engineering Research Center of Advanced Wooden Materials, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China

    Chaofan Sun & Houjuan Qi

  3. Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Alberta, Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Aiguo Wang & Jinguang Hu

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Contributions

JS, SC, CB, and LQ were in charge of doing experiments. JS, AW, and CS were in charge of writing. FK and CS were in charge of revision. ZH, HQ, and JH: conceptualization, methodology, guidance, and supervision. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhanhua Huang, Houjuan Qi or Jinguang Hu.

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Shi, J., Wang, A., An, Y. et al. Core@shell-structured catalysts based on Mg-O-Cu bond for highly selective photoreduction of carbon dioxide to methane. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 7, 2 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-023-00801-6

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