Enhancement of Mass and Charge Transfer during Carbon Dioxide Photoreduction by Enhanced Surface Hydrophobicity without a Barrier Layer

Abstract

The CO2 reduction reaction (CRR) represents a promising route for the clean utilization of renewable resources. But mass‐transfer limitations seriously hinder the forward step. Enhancing the surface hydrophobicity by using polymers has been proved to be one of the most efficient strategies. However, as macromolecular organics, polymers on the surface hinder the transfer of charge carriers from catalysts to reactants. Herein, we describe an in‐situ surface fluorination strategy to enhance the surface hydrophobicity of TiO2 without a barrier layer of organics, thus facilitating the mass transfer of CO2 to catalysts and charge transfer. With less obstruction to charge transfer, a higher CO2, and lower H+ surface concentration, the photocatalytic CRR generation rate of methanol (CH3OH) is greatly enhanced to up to 247.15 μmol g−1 h−1. Furthermore, we investigated the overall defects; enhancing the surface hydrophobicity of catalysts provides a general and reliable method to improve the competitiveness of CRR.

Metallosalen covalent organic frameworks for heterogeneous catalysis

“…The chemical fixation of carbon dioxide is one of the crucial approaches to mitigating global greenhouse effects. [48][49][50][51] However, the cost of industrial chemical fixation remains constrained by the high temperatures and pressures required in the catalytic process. Consequently, designing an efficient catalyst that operates at ambient temperature and pressure could offer a viable solution to reduce the current cost of carbon dioxide chemical fixation.…”

Efficient Liquid Multicarbon Production from Overall CO2 Photoreduction by Creating a Superhydrophobic Gas Storage Space

“…7 and 8, see Section 5 of Methods). 30 Subsequently, the ultraviolet-visible diffuse re ectance spectra (UV-vis) were adopted to investigate the situation of light absorption for the ve samples (CHS, O-CHS, CSS, O-CSS, and O-CNS). Results show that all samples can absorb not only ultraviolet but also visible light, indicating a su cient utilization of solar energy (Supplementary Fig.…”

Solar-driven CO2-to-ethanol conversion enabled by continuous CO2 transport via a superhydrophobic Cu2O nano fence

“…At present, various strategies have been developed to create hydrophobic materials aiming at accumulating more CO 2 molecules near the catalyst surface. 16–21 These strategies typically involve modifying catalysts with hydrophobic modifiers 16–18 or supporting catalysts on hydrophobic substrates. 19–21 However, the developed systems still face limitations in effectively transporting CO 2 .…”