Turning CO2 into valuable chemicals

The transformation of CO2 using semiconductor photocatalysts is a promising alternative for developing sustainable energy sources. Nickel (Ni) based TiO2 photocatalysts immobilized onto quartz plate was assembled in a unique reactor configuration to provide a high ratio of illuminated catalyst surface area for the reduction of CO2 to fuels under visible light. The improved conversion efficiency is ascribed to the presence of the metal, Ni, which served as electrons traps that suppressed recombination, resulting in effective charge separation and CO2 reduction. More importantly, the quantum efficiency is higher than those reported in the literature that used similar reactor configurations.