Construction of Z-Scheme In2S3-TiO2 for CO2 Reduction under Concentrated Natural Sunlight

Abstract

Producing chemical fuels from sunlight enables a sustainable way for energy consumption. Among various solar fuel generation approaches, photocatalytic CO2 reduction has the advantages of simple structure, mild reaction condition, directly reducing carbon emissions, etc. However, most of the current photocatalytic systems can only absorb the UV-visible spectrum of solar light. Therefore, finding a way to utilize infrared light in the photocatalytic system has attracted more and more attention. Here, a Z-scheme In2S3-TiO2 was constructed for CO2 reduction under concentrated natural sunlight. The infrared light was used to create a high-temperature environment for photocatalytic reactions. The evolution rates of H2, CO, and C2H5OH reached 262.2, 73.9, and 27.56 µmol·h-1·g-1, respectively, with an overall solar to fuels efficiency of 0.002%. This work provides a composite photocatalyst towards the utilization of full solar light spectrum, and could promote the research on photocatalytic CO2 reduction.