Synergetic effect of Bi2WO6 micro-spheres and activated carbon mm-spheres for enhancing photoreduction activity of CO2 to CO

The lower CO2 adsorption capacity and product selectivity have been two major obstacles for improving the efficiency of photocatalytic CO2 reduction. In this work, activated carbon mm-spheres (ACSs), as excellent catalyst supporter with high CO2 adsorption capacity and glorious electron migration efficiency, can effectively enhance the photocatalytic activity of Bi2WO6 micro-spheres for CO2 photoreduction to CO. Results demonstrate that, CO2 adsorption capacity (97.8 mg g−1) of Bi2WO6/ACSs, is nearly 40 times higher than that (2.49 mg g−1) of pure Bi2WO6. Moreover, the CO yield of Bi2WO6/ACSs achieves 57.5 μmol g−1 h−1, 2.25 times higher than that of Bi2WO6. After five consecutive runs, there is no obvious loss for the photocatalytic activity, recyclability and stability of Bi2WO6/ACSs. A possible enhanced photocatalysis mechanism is provided for further understanding the synergetic effect of Bi2WO6 micro-spheres and ACSs. Our findings should give new insights and ideas to faultlessly design higher efficient catalysts for CO2 to solar fuels.