Colloidal zinc oxide-copper(I) oxide nanocatalysts for selective aqueous photocatalytic carbon dioxide conversion into methane

Kyung-Lyul Bae, Jinmo Kim, Chan Kyu Lim, Ki Min Nam () and Hyunjoon Song ()
Additional contact information
Kyung-Lyul Bae: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions, Institute for Basic Science (ibs)
Jinmo Kim: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions, Institute for Basic Science (ibs)
Chan Kyu Lim: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions, Institute for Basic Science (ibs)
Ki Min Nam: Mokpo National University
Hyunjoon Song: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions, Institute for Basic Science (ibs)

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Developing catalytic systems with high efficiency and selectivity is a fundamental issue for photochemical carbon dioxide conversion. In particular, rigorous control of the structure and morphology of photocatalysts is decisive for catalytic performance. Here, we report the synthesis of zinc oxide-copper(I) oxide hybrid nanoparticles as colloidal forms bearing copper(I) oxide nanocubes bound to zinc oxide spherical cores. The zinc oxide-copper(I) oxide nanoparticles behave as photocatalysts for the direct conversion of carbon dioxide to methane in an aqueous medium, under ambient pressure and temperature. The catalysts produce methane with an activity of 1080 μmol gcat −1 h−1, a quantum yield of 1.5% and a selectivity for methane of >99%. The catalytic ability of the zinc oxide-copper(I) oxide hybrid catalyst is attributed to excellent band alignment of the zinc-oxide and copper(I) oxide domains, few surface defects which reduce defect-induced charge recombination and enhance electron transfer to the reagents, and a high-surface area colloidal morphology.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01165-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-01165-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01165-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().