Improving Artificial Photosynthesis over Carbon Nitride by Gas-Liquid-Solid Interface Management for Full Light-Induced CO2 Reduction to C1 and C2 Fuels and O2

The activity and selectivity of simple photocatalysts for CO2 reduction remain limited by the insufficient photophysics of the catalysts, as well as the low solubility and slow mass transport of gas molecules in/through aqueous solution. In this study, these limitations are overcome by constructing a triphasic photocatalytic system, in which polymeric carbon nitride (CN) is immobilized onto a hydrophobic substrate, and the photocatalytic reduction reaction occurs at a gas-liquid-solid (CO2-water-catalyst) triple interface. CN anchored onto the surface of a hydrophobic substrate exhibits an approximately 7.2-fold enhancement in total CO2 conversion, with a rate of 415.50 mu mol m(-2) h(-1) under simulated solar light irradiation. This value corresponds to an overall photosynthetic efficiency for full water-CO2 conversion of 0.33 %, which is very close to biological systems. A remarkable enhancement of direct C2 hydrocarbon production and a high CO2 conversion selectivity of 97.7 % are observed. Going from water oxidation to phosphate oxidation, the quantum yield is increased to 1.28 %.