Fabrication of Flexible Mesoporous Black Nb2 O5 Nanofiber Films for Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction into CH4.

Abstract

Achieving high selectivity and conversion efficiency simultaneously is a challenge for visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction into CH4 . Here, a facile nanofiber synthesis method and a new defect control strategy at room-temperature are reported for the fabrication of flexible mesoporous black Nb2 O5 nanofiber catalysts that contain abundant oxygen-vacancies and unsaturated Nb dual-sites, which are efficient towards photocatalytic production of CH4 . The oxygen-vacancy decreases the bandgap width of Nb2 O5 from 3.01-2.25eV, which broadens thelight-absorption range from ultraviolet to visible-light, and the dual sites in the mesopores can easily adsorb CO2 , so that the intermediate product of CO* can be spontaneously changed into *CHO. The formation of a highly stable NbCHO* intermediate at the dual sites is proposed to be the key feature determining selectivity. The preliminary results show that without using sacrificial agents and photosensitizers, the nanofiber catalyst achieves 64.8% selectivity for CH4 production with a high evolution rate of 19.5 µmol g-1 h-1 under visible-light. Furthermore, the flexible catalyst film can be directly used in devices, showing appealing and broadly commercial applications.