Ag-Doped CuV2O6 Nanowires for Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction into chemical fuels is a promising strategy to realize the CO2 conversion and solar energy utilization, yet there remains a great challenge in conversion efficiency. Herein, Ag-ion-doped CuV2O6 nanowires (NWs) with abundant oxygen vacancies were prepared by a simple hydrothermal method and utilized as catalysts for CO2 photoreduction with H2O vapor. It was demonstrated that Ag-ion doping in CuV2O6 resulted in a narrow band gap, enhanced visible-light absorption ability, elevated conduction band, abundant oxygen vacancies, strong CO2 surface-absorption capacity, superior hydrophilicity, and high separation/transfer efficiency of the photoinduced electron–hole pairs. Consequently, the Ag-doped CuV2O6 NWs exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance for CO2 reduction as compared to the pristine CuV2O6 NWs. Remarkably, the optimized Ag-doped CuV2O6 NWs exhibited a significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity with a CO evolution rate of 6.95 μmol g–1 h–1 under visible-light irradiation, which is 8.9 times higher than those of pure CuV2O6 NWs. The present work may provide a valid strategy to engineer CuV2O6 NWs for boosting visible-light photocatalytic CO2 reduction.