Key Words:OPTOFLUIDIC MEMBRANE MICROREACTOR; GRAPHITIC CARBON NITRIDE; PHOTOCATALYTIC REDUCTION; PHOTOREDUCTION; COPPER; HETEROJUNCTIONS; HYDROGENATION; NANOCOMPOSITE; EVOLUTION; CATALYST
Abstract:Thin films of CuO wrapped around a skeleton were synthesised using nickel foam (NF) as a carrier and g-C3N4 was embedded in it to generate NF@Cu/g-C3N4 monolithic catalysts. The slow kinetics of photocatalytic reduction of CO2 and the low quantum efficiency achieved, which is directly related to the photocatalyst and reactor configurations, limit the wide application of this technology. In light of this, a novel pod-like NF@Cu/gC3N4 monolithic photomicroreactor system was developed in this study to improve the efficiency of visible lightresponsive CO2 reduction to methanol. Micro-morphology and pore volume characterization showed that the incorporation of CuO and g-C3N4 significantly increased the specific surface area and pore volume of Ni foam. The novel monolithic photomicro reactor was evaluated using methanol yield as an indicator, and the experimental results showed that the performance of the mesoporous NF@Cu/g-C3N4 photomicroreactor was significantly better than that of the NF@CuO photomicroreactor as well as the tubular reactor. The average CH3OH yields were 6.47 and 9.85 times higher than those of pure CuO and pure g-C3N4. The results showed that the methanol concentration and yield tended to increase and then decrease with the increase in liquid flow rate. The experimental results fully demonstrate the superiority of the newly developed NF@Cu/g-C3N4 monolithic photomicroreaction system in enhancing the CO2 photoreduction performance.
Volume:50
Issue:12
Translation or Not:no