Interfacial charge separation in Cu2O/RuOx as a visible light driven CO2 reduction catalyst

Abstract

We employ transient absorption spectroscopy to record the absorption spectrum of photogenerated charge carriers in Cu₂O. We have found that CO₂ reduction in Cu₂O is limited by fast electron–hole recombination. The deposition of RuO_x nanoparticles on Cu₂O results in a twofold increased yield of long-lived electrons, indicating partially reduced electron–hole recombination losses. This observation correlates with an approximately sixfold increase in the yield of CO₂ reduction to CO.