Highly selective photocatalytic CO_(2) reduction to ethylene in pure water by Nb_(2)O_(5) nanoparticles with enriched surface –OH groups under simulated solar illumination

作     者：Haoyu Zhang Shuang Gao Haitao Guan Weiyi Yang Qi Li 

作者机构：Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of MaterialsMinistry of EducationSchool of Materials Science and EngineeringSouthwest Jiaotong UniversityChengdu 610031China 

出 版 物：《先进陶瓷(英文)》 (Journal of Advanced Ceramics)

年 卷 期：2023年第12卷第8期

页      面：1641-1654页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 081705[工学-工业催化] 070304[理学-物理化学(含∶化学物理)] 08[工学] 0817[工学-化学工程与技术] 0806[工学-冶金工程] 0805[工学-材料科学与工程（可授工学、理学学位）] 0703[理学-化学] 0702[理学-物理学] 

基　　金：This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.52272125 and 51902271) the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant Nos.2682021CX116,2682020CX07,and 2682020CX08) Sichuan Science and Technology Program(Grant Nos.2020YJ0259,2020YJ0072,and 2021YFH0163).We would like to thank Analysis and Testing Center of Southwest Jiaotong University for the assistance on material characterization. 

主　　题：photocatalytic CO_(2)reduction niobium oxide nanoparticles thermal decomposition surface hydroxyl(-OH)groups simulated solar illumination 

摘      要：Photocatalytic CO_(2) reduction to valuable chemical compounds could be a promising approach for carbon-neutral practice.In this work,a simple and robust thermal decomposition process was developed with ammonium carbonate((NH4)2CO3)as both precipitation agent and sacrificial template to produce fine Nb_(2)O_(5) nanoparticles with the rich existence of surface hydroxyl(–OH)groups.It was found by density functional theory(DFT)calculations and experiments that the rich existence of the surface–OH groups enhanced the adsorption of both reactants(CO_(2) and H_(2)O molecules)for the photocatalytic CO_(2) reduction on these fine Nb_(2)O_(5) nanoparticles,and the highly selective conversion of CO_(2) to the high-value chemical compound of ethylene(C_(2)H_(4),~68μmol·g^(−1)·h^(−1) with~100%product selectivity)was achieved under simulated solar illumination without usage of any sacrificial agents or noble metal cocatalysts.This synthesis process may also be readily applied as a surface engineering method to enrich the existence of the surface–OH groups on various metal oxide-based photocatalysts for a broad range of technical applications.