A Study of the Reaction Kinetics and Solar Concentrator-Based Reactor Design for Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 Into Fuel

Solar powered conversion of CO2 into fuel and other value-added chemicals is considered a holy grail toward a sustainable future. Development of materials that can catalytically convert CO2 and water vapor into hydrocarbons under sunlight has been one of the most formidable challenges in the 21st century. This study have recently demonstrates that by introducing hydrophilic and hydrophobic sites on nanostructured TiO2-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite surfaces, yield of methane from photoreduction of CO2 can be enhanced by approximate to 30%. Here this study reports the study of reaction kinetics for TiO2-rGO photocatalysts through pressure and temperature dependent measurements of the product yield. By applying the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model on the pressure dependent CO2 conversion data, the reaction rates are calculated for selective adsorption of CO2 and H2O on the photocatalyst surface. These data are correlated with charge transport studies done through current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the photocatalyst measured in presence of CO2 and H2O. On the other hand, a unique solar-concentrator based reactor design is developed. Such a prototype allows about a 20 degrees C rise in the temperature that enhances the rates of photocatalytic reactions. A comparative study of the CO2 photoreduction experiments in absence and in presence of the concentrated sunlight are presented.