Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2024 Conference (MATSUS24)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2024.474
Publication date: 18th December 2023
The search for new photoactive materials able to efficiently produce solar fuels is a matter of growing interest due to the current global energetic crisis. In response to this situation, the generation of solar fuels has appeared as a sustainable alternative. In last years, extensive efforts have been made to develop efficient catalytic systems capable of harvesting light absorption and reducing CO2 especially when using water as the electron donor.
Herein, we report different strategies and modifications of photocatalysts to increase process performance. Among them, an interesting approach to improve charge separation in photocatalytic systems is the use of heterojunctions. In this line, the combination of different semiconductors with noble metal nanoparticles or organic semiconducting polymers leads to a separation of the photogenerated charge carriers to increasing their life time, facilitating charge transfer to adsorbed molecules.
Organo-inorganic hybrid materials show a dramatic reactivity improvement in CO2 photoreduction, enhancing methane selectivity. Reaction pathways are not well defined for this reaction and several uncertains are still unsolved. To explain this behavior a combination of in-situ NAP-XPS, FTIR, TAS spectroscopies and theoretical tools has been used, showing a more efficient light absorption and charge transfer in the hybrid photocatalyst compared with bare materials.