Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to Fuel Using A Novel I-TiO2 Based CatalystZixuan Wang, Chemical Engineering

Mentor: Dr. Jean Andino

School of Engineering Matter, Transport and Energy

FUTURE WORK

REFERENCES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

SYNTHESISBACKGROUND

• Purpose: interest in reducing CO2 emissions,

which has been shown to cause global

climate change

• TiO2 is most stable, cost-effective, and non-

toxic catalyst used[1]

• However, TiO2 only responds to UV,

whereas I-TiO2 can expand to visible

spectrum[2]

• Re-energize CO2 using a I-TiO2

photocatalyst and RGO mixture

oI-TiO2 used since doping nonmetal

materials into the TiO2 have been

shown to be effective in enhancing

visible light activity [2]

oRGO used to assist in charge

separation

• Study the formation of products such as

methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), or

other products on the surface of the catalyst

• Perform experiment with heat treated novel catalyst at 220°C

• Experiments with different illumination sources

Special thanks to Dr. Jean Andino, Selisa Rollins, and Alejandro

Castaneda and the FURI program at Arizona State University.

We gratefully acknowledge the use of facilities within the LeRoy

Eyring Center for Solid State Science at ASU.

[1] Fujishima, A., et al. Comptes Rendus Chimie (2006) 9, 750-760

[2] Zhang Q., et al. Applied Catalysis A: General (2011) 400, 195-202

[3] Armaroli T. et al. Oil & Gas Science and Technology (2004), 215-237

Figure 1: Model of the photoreduction process

RESULTS

Figure 5: Dome interior of DRIFTS

CHARACTERIZATION

• Used XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) to

characterize the crystal structure of I-TiO2

EXPERIMENT

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

0 20 40 60 80

Inte

nsi

ty

2θ

XRD of I-TiO2 at 400 C

400 °C:

sample

contained

75% anatase,

25% rutile

500 °C:

sample

contained

50% anatase,

50% rutile

Figure 3: XRD characterization results of I-TiO2 calcinated at 400 ºC

with labeled anatase (A) and rutile (R) peaks

Figure 4: XRD characterization results of I-TiO2 calcinated at 500 ºC

with labeled anatase (A) and rutile (R) peaks

Figure 1: Model of photoreduction process

Figure 2:Synthesis protocol for novel photocatalyst

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

0 20 40 60 80 100

Inte

nsi

ty

2θ

XRD of I-TiO2 at 500 C

A(101)

R(110)

A(101)

R(110)

Methodology

Diffused Reflectance

Infrared Fourier

Transform spectroscopy

(DRIFTs):

-5:1 molar ratio of

H2O/CO2 flow

-~50-60 mg of novel

catalyst was used

-illumination for 60

minutes with UV-vis

light

-sample collected every

10 minutes

RESULTS

Figure 7: DRIFTs spectra of OH region with H2O/CO2 flow over 1 hour of illumination

Figure 6: DRIFTs spectra of RGO-I-TiO2 with H2O/CO2 flow over 1 hour of illumination

Figure 8: Subtracted DRIFTs spectra of RGO-I-TiO2 with H2O/CO2 flow over 1 hour of

illumination

Figure 9: Subtracted DRIFTs spectra of carbonate region with H2O/CO2 flow over 1

hour of illumination

• Spectra in Figures 6-9 were obtained from the DRIFTs

experiment with RGO-I-TiO2 composite catalyst

• Decrease in CO2 between 2300-2400 cm-1

• Intermediate product formation in OH (3000-3800 cm-1)

and carbonate region (1200-1750 cm-1)