A diagram illustrating the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO on Ag-based electrode nanostructures.

The design and engineering of plasmonic metal nanocomposite photocatalysts offer an operative approach for highly efficient CO2 photoreduction. Herein, the authors report a plasmonic 3D flower-like (3DF) Ag–CeO2–ZnO nanocomposite catalyst with effective charge carrier separation/transfer and CO2 adsorption capacity exhibiting a considerable enhanced performance compared to pure ZnO and CeO2 for photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO and CH4 under UV–vis light. The apparent quantum efficiency of the optimized sample is 4.47% at 420 nm, and the CO2 to CO selectivity reaches up to ∼95%. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of 3DF Ag–CeO2–ZnO can be assigned to the prolonged absorption in the visible light region induced by the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect, the efficient separation of photogenerated charges, and the Z-scheme configuration. Furthermore, the photocatalyst displays excellent stability and reusability. The mechanism of the plasmon-mediated Z-scheme structure has been suggested in which Ag NPs act as both visible light absorber and electron mediator.

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Herein, we fabricated a C and N co-modified Nb 2 O 5 nanonet structure (C-N/Nb 2 O 5 NNs) from niobium oxalate using 2-methylimidazole (Hmim) as a source for C and N via a simple hydrothermal route. The obtained nanonets are robust and cost-effective with excellent recycling stability. Compared with Ndoped TiO 2 (N-TiO 2 ) and a Nb 2 O 5 control sample (Nb 2 O 5 -CS), the resulting nanonets exhibited the highest performance toward the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) upon visible light irradiation (l > 420 nm). Through this study, we revealed that the synergetic effects of C and N on the nanonet surface, which were effectively incorporated into the surface of the Nb 2 O 5 nanonet structure, not only remarkably enhanced the visible light response by decreasing the bandgap to 2.9 eV but also improved the light utilization efficiency and photo-induced electron-hole pair separation efficiency of our nanonet structure. We also proposed that the presence of carbonate species (CO x ) and nitrogen species (NO x ) increased the population of generated holes (h + ) that had the key role in the photodegradation mechanism of RhB, suggesting reasonable importance for the modification of Nb 2 O 5 with C and N. This synergism offers a new view to reveal the origin of photodegradation processes, introducing h + as a key intermediate. Our approach provides a new insight to design 2D nanostructures with potential applications in catalysis, solar energy conversion, and environmental protection.