Comparison N-Cu–codoped nanotitania and N-doped nanotitania in photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ under UV light

ABSTRACT

Nitrogen-copper–codoped nanotitania and nitrogen-doped nanotitania for CO₂ photoreduction by water in liquid phase were prepared by sol-gel method. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, HRTEM, DRS, FTIR, and XPS. N-doped TiO₂ have remarkably better photocatalytic activity than N- and Cu-codoped TiO₂ for the CO₂ photoreduction to acetone under ultraviolet illumination. The acetone yield of N₃/TiO₂ could reach 52.6 μmol/g h and the acetone yield of Cu_0.6N₄/TiO₂ could reach 33.2 μmol/g h under UV conditions. The mechanism of CO₂ photoreduction on N-doped nanotitania and N-Cu–codoped TiO₂ was proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• Nano-TiO₂
• nitrogen and copper codoping
• sol-gel
• CO₂ photoreduction
• acetone

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21406164, 21466035), the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (973 program, No. 2014CB239300, 2012CB720100), the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (No. 13JCQNJC05700), and the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No.20130032120019).