(Invited) Efficient CO Production from CO2 and H2o By the Aid of Artificial Photosynthesis

Abstract

The reduction in human-induced emissions of CO2 from automobiles, factories, power stations etc., over the next 15 years is currently one of the most important issues facing the planet. We should therefore attempt to develop industrial processes using CO2 as a feedstock to build a sustainable society. Linear CO2 molecules adsorbed on the surface of the solid bases are converted into unique structures, such as bicarbonate and carbonate species possessing lattice oxygen atoms. We believe that the process involves the capture and distortion of CO2 upon adsorption on a solid base through activation by photoirradiation. These days, we succeeded in designing highly selective photocatalytic conversion of CO2 by H2O as the electron donor, by the simultaneous use of an inhibitor of the production of H2 and a material for CO2 capture and storage. An isotope experiment using 13CO2 and mass spectrometry clarified that the carbon source of the evolved CO is not the residual carbon species, but the CO2 introduced in the gas phase. In addition, stoichiometric amounts of O2 were generated together with CO.