Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction of Au/Cu2O@Au Photocatalyst Under Visible-Light Irradiation

To improve the yield and selectivity of photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) > Au/Cu2O@Au photocatalyst was prepared by introducing the metal Au into cavity cuprous oxide (Cu2O) by one-step method. The photocatalyst was characterized by means of XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, UV-visible absorption spectra and analyzed by photoelectrochemical tests. Then the performance of Au/Cu2O @ Au photocatalyst for the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 was investigated. The results show that Au/Cu2O@Au photocatalyst has excellent performance for the photocatalytic reduction of CO2. Under visible light irradiation with a light intensity of 20 mW/cm, the yield and selectivity of the photocatalyst catalytic reduction of CO2 into methane (CH,) and carbon monoxide (CO) arc 4. 86 jumol/(g • h) and 31. 62%, 42. 04 jumol/(g • h) and 68. 38%, respectively. Compared with the cavity Cu2O photocatalyst, the yield and selectivity of CO of Au/Cu2O @ Au photocatalyst is increased by 8. 12 times and 32.84 percent points, respectively. The Au particles in the Au/Cu2O@Au photocatalyst synthesized using one-step method are distributed on the surface and inside the cavity of Cu2O. The synergistic effect of the unique Au distribution and cavity structure improves the abilities of photocatalyst to absorb visible light, separate and transfer photon-generated carriers, effectively inhibits the recombination of photon-generated carriers, and thus achieves an improvement in CO yield and selectivity. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved.