Publication date: 31st March 2013
The design of light harvesting systems for Solar Fuels production is a broad scientific field based on energy conversion processes. Artificial Photosynthesis (AP) is a particularly challenging approach for the photochemical conversion of CO2 and water into hydrocarbons and other value added products [1]. The multielectron chemistry involved in the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 makes this process complex enough to require the development of improved catalysts to drive the reactions.
This work is focused on the behaviour of a photocatalytic system based on TiO2 decorated with silver nanoparticles (NPs). The coupling of the semiconductor with plasmonic Ag NPs has been considered as a pathway to improve the overall photocatalytic activity. These noble metal-semiconductor assemblies have probed to show an extended optical absorption besides retarding the recombination of photogenerated charges
Ag/TiO2 catalysts have been tested in the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 with water vapour as electron donor under UV and visible irradiation. The deposition of Ag NPs over the surface of TiO2 was found to significantly enhance the hydrocarbon formation, in comparison with the pure semiconductor.
Since the CO2 photoreduction performance is greatly influenced by an effective charge separation in the semiconductor, a study of the optoelectronic properties of the Ag/TiO2 catalyst has been performed to further investigate the effect of the metal on the photocatalytic activity. Transient Absorption spectroscopy (TAS) has been used to study the charge transfer dynamics in Ag/TiO2 systems and to provide a better understanding on the CO2 photoreduction activities.
[1] P. D. Tran, L. H. Wong, J. Barber, and J. S. C. Loo, Energy & Environmental Science, 2012, 5, 5902. [2] H. Tong, S. Ouyang, Y. Bi, N. Umezawa, M. Oshikiri, and J. Ye, Advanced materials, 2012, 24, 229–51. [3] W. Hou, W. H. Hung, P. Pavaskar, A. Goeppert, M. Aykol, and S. B. Cronin, ACS Catalysis, 2011, 1, 929–936.
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