CO 2 photoreduction products, such as CO and CH 4 , have the potential to be further processed into valuable products and fuels, making this process a promising, environmentally friendly, and economically viable energy conversion technology. In this study, uniform BiOCl hierarchical nanoflowers with tunable thickness and abundant oxygen vacancies (OVs) were synthesized using a poly(vinylpyrrolidone)/ethylene glycol-assisted self-assembly method. The OV-rich BiOCl nanoflower (BiOCl-3) showed a 4-fold increase in photocatalytic conversion of CO 2 to CO compared to BiOCl nanosheets (BiOCl-1). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and energy band analysis reveal anisotropy in the CO 2 reduction activity across different crystal facets, and the morphology can affect both the conduction band (CB) and band gap, resulting in a more negative CB edge for BiOCl compared to the reduction potential of CO 2 photoreduction to CO. This work provides a comprehensive analysis and explanation of the OV-rich BiOCl photocatalytic CO 2 reduction from both experimental and theoretical perspectives.
Catalytic methane decomposition (CMD) is a promising
technology
for large-scale production of CO
x
-free
H2 from natural gas that can also produce valuable carbon
byproducts. Although equilibrium conversions and reaction rates of
CMD generally increase with temperature, operation in a low-temperature
regime with simultaneous H2 recovery could potentially
lead to operating cost and energy savings. Here, we report that well-dispersed
Ni–SiO2, derived from high-temperature reduction
of nickel phyllosilicates, is active for CMD at temperatures below
500 °C, with initial H2 production rates of up to
5.3 mol H2/gcat·h at 25% CH4 conversion. This ability to achieve rates comparable to other well-established
catalysts is contrary to expectations that small (
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