Photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide by strontium titanate nanocube-dispersed mesoporous silica

Strontium titanate nanocube-dispersed mesoporous silica (STO(NC)-MPS) nanocomposite was examinedas a photocatalyst for the photoreduction of CO2. Copper (Cu) was examined as a co-catalyst, and theresults showed that it was effective for the production of CO under a flow of CO2 and UV irradiation inwater. As confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, (CO)-C-13 was produced in the presence of (CO2)-C-13, thus demonstrating that CO was generated upon photoreduction of CO2. Simultaneous formationof O-2 suggested that water acted as a reductant in the photocatalysis process. Moreover, Cu supportedon STO(NC)-MPS showed higher selectivity toward CO2 reduction when compared with Cu-supportedcomposite prepared from mesoporous silica and SrTiO3 that was synthesized by conventional solid statereaction. Thus, the current findings highlight the characteristics and advantages of SrTiO3 nanocubes andtheir nanocomposites with mesoporous silica as photocatalysts for CO2 photoreduction. (C) 2017 The Ceramic Society of Japan and the Korean Ceramic Society. Production and hosting byElsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.