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Visible light photoreduction of CO;using heterostructured catalysts

  • US 8,986,511 B1
  • Filed: 10/13/2010
  • Issued: 03/24/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2009
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method of photocatalytically reducing CO2 in the presence of water comprising:

  • producing a sensitized photocatalyst comprised of;

    a wide band gap semiconductor material, where the valence band of the wide band gap semiconductor material has a more positive potential than the redox potential of H2O,a semiconductor sensitizer loaded on a surface of the wide band gap semiconductor material, where the semiconductor sensitizer comprises a binary semiconductor, where the binary semiconductor is InP, GaAs, PbS, PbSe, ZnTe, CdS, CdSe, or CdTe, such that the binary semiconductor has a band gap such that visible light produces photoexcitation in the binary semiconductor, and where the valence band of the wide band gap semiconductor material has a more positive potential than the redox potential of H2O, and where the binary semiconductor has a band gap such that the binary semiconductor and the wide band gap semiconductor material form a heterojunction at an interface between the binary semiconductor and the wide band gap semiconductor material, where the heterojunction has a type II band alignment, and where the conduction band of the binary semiconductor has a more negative potential than the conduction band of the wide band gap semiconductor material,a co-catalyst loaded on the wide band gap semiconductor material, where the co-catalyst is comprised of a transition metal;

    and exposing the sensitized photocatalyst to CO2 and H2O, and exposing the sensitized photocatalyst to a visible light illumination, such that some portion of the CO2 is photocatalytically reduced and such that product molecules are produced.

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