A novel ternary metal oxide cascade Z-scheme heterojunction for efficient CO2 photoconversion without a co-catalyst

Abstract

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction to produce synthetic fuels has emerged as a promising strategy in the quest for environmentally friendly and sustainable energy sources. Herein, we report a ternary metal oxide cascade Z-Scheme consisting of Cu2O/WO3/CeO2 nano-heterostructures that exhibits 4-fold higher activity towards visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction in the absence of noble metal co-catalysts compared to binary oxide components and 8-fold higher than CeO2. The ternary Z-scheme heterojunction shows enhanced visible light absorption, effective separation of photoinduced charge carriers, and enhanced redox capacity due to the synergistic effect of two heterojunctions in Cu2O/WO3/CeO2.