Graphene oxide as a promising photocatalyst for CO2 to methanol conversion

Abstract

Photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to hydrocarbons such as methanol makes possible simultaneous solar energy harvesting and CO₂ reduction, two birds with one stone for the energy and environmental issues. This work describes a high photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ to methanol using graphene oxides (GOs) as a promising photocatalyst. The modified Hummer's method has been applied to synthesize the GO based photocatalyst for the enhanced catalytic activity. The photocatalytic CO₂ to methanol conversion rate on modified graphene oxide (GO-3) is 0.172 μmol g cat⁻¹ h⁻¹ under visible light, which is six-fold higher than the pure TiO₂.