Abstract
Solar conversion of CO2 into energy-rich products is one of the sustainable solutions to lessen the global energy shortage and environmental crisis. Pitifully, it is still challenging to attain reliable and affordable CO2 conversion. Herein, we demonstrate a facile one-pot approach to design core-triple shell Mn, C-codoped ZnO hollow spheres as efficient photocatalysts for CO2 reduction. The Mn ions, with switchable valence states, function as “ionized cocatalyst” to promote the CO2 adsorption and light harvesting of the system. Besides, they can capture photogenerated electrons from the conduction band of ZnO and provide the electrons for CO2 reduction. This process is continuous due to the switchable valence states of Mn ions. Benefiting from such unique features, the prepared photocatalysts demonstrated fairly good CO2 conversion performance. This work is endeavoured to shed light on the role of ionized cocatalyst towards sustainable energy production.
Highlights
Solar conversion of CO2 into energy-rich products is one of the sustainable solutions to lessen the global energy shortage and environmental crisis
The CPSs as precursors were firstly formulated by the coordination interaction between Zn- and Mn-acetate and salicylate ligands (Fig. 1a)
The carboxylate groups of salicylic acid play a significant role that they can coordinate to metal ions, enabling a delicate control over the composition. This method is universal to most of the transition metals because non-selectivity is witnessed for salicylic acid[30]
Summary
Solar conversion of CO2 into energy-rich products is one of the sustainable solutions to lessen the global energy shortage and environmental crisis. After calcination for 3 h, unexpectedly, the solid Mn, Zn-CPSs were converted into unique concentric Mn, C-ZnO CTSHSs, as noticed from the high contrast between the shell edges and centered hollow regions (Fig. 2b).
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