A Solar Photothermocatalytic approach for the CO2 conversion: Investigation of different synergisms on CoO-CuO/Brookite TiO2-CeO2 catalysts
Abstract The photoactive features of the least common polymorph of TiO2, i.e. brookite, were combined with the thermocatalytic redox ones of cerium oxide, focusing on the effects of the addition of small amounts of Co-Cu oxides for the solar CO2 conversion. By considering the characterization data, a surface segregation of the hosted metal oxides on the TiO2-CeO2 composite was evidenced, and their presence increased the amount of oxygen vacancies and improved the charge carriers separation. The bimetallic oxides-based sample was the most performing one in the photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction at room temperature. The formation of carbon monoxide and methane was 5 and 0.5 μmol g−1h−1, …
A solar photothermo-catalytic combined process for the VOCs combustion and the subsequent CO2 valorization using noble metal-free catalysts
We here investigated a solar photothermo-catalytic combined process where the toluene (as volatile organic compound model) was first oxidized to CO2 which was subsequently converted into solar fuels in a second reactor. For this aim two noble-metal free catalytic systems were used, namely MnOx-ZrO2, which gave the best results for the toluene removal, and brookite TiO2-CeO2 mixed oxides which were the most efficient in the subsequent CO2 conversion. This latter reaction was further improved by the addition of small amounts of copper-based materials on brookite-ceria, acting as co-catalysts. The key point for both the examined reactions was the synergism between the thermocatalytic and the p…