Journal of Catalysis
Journal of Catalysis
4 years ago

Novel photocatalytic conversion of CO2 by vanadium-doped tantalum nitride for valuable solar fuel production

Novel photocatalytic conversion of CO2 by vanadium-doped tantalum nitride for valuable solar fuel production
In this study, Ta3N5 and V-doped Ta3N5 (V–Ta3N5) were synthesized as catalysts for the conversion of CO2 into valuable fuels under visible light. As compared with Ta2O5, the synthesized Ta3N5 and V–Ta3N5 exhibited great increases in visible light adsorption and decreases in band gap energy. Therefore, the synthesized Ta3N5 and V–Ta3N5 photocatalytically converted CO2 into CO and CH4 even under visible light. The V dopants, which existed in the Ta3N5 lattice, could act as an intermediate band (V3d) between the valence band (N2p) and the conduction band (Ta5d) of the Ta3N5 to increase the electron–hole separation efficiency of the photocatalyst. Thus, the photocatalytic activity of V–Ta3N5 was much higher than that of Ta3N5. However, an increase in the V doping ratio led the formation of VN particles distributed on the Ta3N5 surface. The formed particles eclipsed the light reaching the photocatalyst surface, resulted in a decrease in photocatalytic activity. The optimal V doping ratio in V–Ta3N5 was found to be 2wt.%. As a result, the production rates of CH4, CO, O2, and H2 generated from the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 by 2wt.% V–Ta3N5 under visible light were 425, 236, 1003, and 56µmolg−1cath−1, respectively.

Publisher URL: www.sciencedirect.com/science

DOI: S0021951717301410

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.