Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to methane over PtOx-loaded ultrathin Bi2WO6 nanosheets

Solar CO2 photoreduction into hydrocarbons is promising and significative. However, many conventional catalysts reported usually suffer from poor photocatalytic activities. Herein, ultrathin Bi2WO6 nanosheets with a thickness of about 4.8 nm have been synthesized by hydrothermal method, which exhibited a CH4 production rate of 19 ppm g(-1) h(-1) under a low CO2 concentration of 400 ppm. PtOx nanoparticles with a size of about 2 nm were then loaded on the Bi2WO6 nanosheets as excellent co-catalysts by photoreduction in aqueous solution, and an optimal CH4 yield of 108.8 ppm g(-1) h(-1) was achieved, which was about 5.7 times than that of pristine Bi2WO6 nanosheets. Further analyses of photocurrent curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and polarization curves of water oxidation indicated that the improved photocatalytic activity was suggested to result from the enhanced carrier separation and accelerated water oxidation by PtOx nanoparticles. The work will likely give a deeper insight of PtOx nanoparticles and provide a new idea to design catalysts for CO2 photoreduction to CH4.