Under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the team of Zou Zhigang of Nanjing University used artificial light synthesis to convert carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuel. This has positive significance in the use of photocatalytic reactions to achieve carbon recycling. Related research The results were published in the recent journals Angew.Chem.Int.Ed. and J.Am.Soc.Chem..
In recent years, global climate change has been directed at CO2. How to explore effective control of CO2 content in the atmosphere has aroused great interest in multidisciplinary scientists on the environment, materials, and chemistry. Some scientists are also exploring how to turn waste into treasure and use CO2 as an energy source. One possible technical path is the efficient conversion of CO2 to hydrocarbons, such as methane and other hydrocarbon fuels, using photocatalytic materials at normal temperature and pressure.
However, it takes a lot of energy to disperse CO2 molecules and synthesize fuel hydrocarbons. Therefore, the development of efficient solar energy conversion photocatalytic materials has become one of the major frontier scientific explorations in the current international material field to solve energy and environmental problems.
Photocatalytic materials can be divided into first generation and second generation. The first generation of photocatalytic materials is mainly UV-responsive, and its typical representative material is TiO2. The first generation of photocatalytic materials can only use the ultraviolet light in the sunlight, while the ultraviolet light only accounts for about 4% of the solar energy, while the visible light (400 to 750 nm) accounts for 43% of the solar energy. As early as 2001, Zou Zhigang and others discovered the In0.9Ni0.1TaO4 photocatalytic material and applied it to the photolysis of water to make hydrogen and realized the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy. The paper was published in the journal Nature. This work has developed a new type of complex oxide catalytic system with visible light activity, representing the beginning of research on second generation visible light-responsive photocatalytic material systems.
Since then, Zou Zhigang's task force has successfully developed a series of new material systems. This time, the research group and their collaborators used mesoporous NaGaO2 colloids as templates to successfully synthesize ZnGa2O4 mesoporous photocatalytic materials through ion exchange at room temperature. Mesoporous ZnGa2O4 was used for photoreduction of CO2, successfully converting CO2 into hydrocarbon fuel.
The research group also used solvothermal methods to synthesize Zn2GeO4 single crystal nanobelts that are hundreds of microns long, 7 nanometers thick (equivalent to five cell thicknesses), and have a length/diameter ratio as high as 10,000. Since Zn2GeO4 has one-dimensional single-crystal nanostructures, it greatly reduces the recombination probability of electrons and holes, and shows a high catalytic activity in the photoreduction of CO2 into hydrocarbon fuels.
It is reported that broadening the photoresponse range of photocatalytic materials and increasing the efficiency of CO2 conversion to hydrocarbon fuels are the next goals for scientists.
In recent years, global climate change has been directed at CO2. How to explore effective control of CO2 content in the atmosphere has aroused great interest in multidisciplinary scientists on the environment, materials, and chemistry. Some scientists are also exploring how to turn waste into treasure and use CO2 as an energy source. One possible technical path is the efficient conversion of CO2 to hydrocarbons, such as methane and other hydrocarbon fuels, using photocatalytic materials at normal temperature and pressure.
However, it takes a lot of energy to disperse CO2 molecules and synthesize fuel hydrocarbons. Therefore, the development of efficient solar energy conversion photocatalytic materials has become one of the major frontier scientific explorations in the current international material field to solve energy and environmental problems.
Photocatalytic materials can be divided into first generation and second generation. The first generation of photocatalytic materials is mainly UV-responsive, and its typical representative material is TiO2. The first generation of photocatalytic materials can only use the ultraviolet light in the sunlight, while the ultraviolet light only accounts for about 4% of the solar energy, while the visible light (400 to 750 nm) accounts for 43% of the solar energy. As early as 2001, Zou Zhigang and others discovered the In0.9Ni0.1TaO4 photocatalytic material and applied it to the photolysis of water to make hydrogen and realized the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy. The paper was published in the journal Nature. This work has developed a new type of complex oxide catalytic system with visible light activity, representing the beginning of research on second generation visible light-responsive photocatalytic material systems.
Since then, Zou Zhigang's task force has successfully developed a series of new material systems. This time, the research group and their collaborators used mesoporous NaGaO2 colloids as templates to successfully synthesize ZnGa2O4 mesoporous photocatalytic materials through ion exchange at room temperature. Mesoporous ZnGa2O4 was used for photoreduction of CO2, successfully converting CO2 into hydrocarbon fuel.
The research group also used solvothermal methods to synthesize Zn2GeO4 single crystal nanobelts that are hundreds of microns long, 7 nanometers thick (equivalent to five cell thicknesses), and have a length/diameter ratio as high as 10,000. Since Zn2GeO4 has one-dimensional single-crystal nanostructures, it greatly reduces the recombination probability of electrons and holes, and shows a high catalytic activity in the photoreduction of CO2 into hydrocarbon fuels.
It is reported that broadening the photoresponse range of photocatalytic materials and increasing the efficiency of CO2 conversion to hydrocarbon fuels are the next goals for scientists.