@article {46197,
	title = {Direct Z-scheme g-C3N4/FeWO4 nanocomposite for enhanced and selective photocatalytic CO2 reduction under visible light},
	journal = {ACS Applied Materials \& Interfaces},
	volume = {11},
	year = {2019},
	month = {FEB },
	pages = {6174-6183},
	type = {Article},
	abstract = {<p>Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to renewable solar fuels is considered to be a promising strategy to simultaneously solve both global warming and energy crises. However, development of a superior photocatalytic system with high product selectivity for CO2 reduction under solar light is the prime requisite. Herein, a series of nature-inspired Z-scheme g C3N4/FeWO4 composites are prepared for higher performance and selective CO2 reduction to CO as solar fuel under solar light. The novel direct Z-scheme coupling of the visible light-active FeWO4 nanoparticles with C3N4 nanosheets is seen to exhibit excellent performance for CO production with a rate of 6 mu mol/g/h at an ambient temperature, almost 6 times higher compared to pristine C3N4 and 15 times higher than pristine FeWO4. More importantly, selectivity for CO is 100\% over other carbon products from CO, reduction and more than 90\% over. H-2 products from water splitting. Our results clearly demonstrate that the staggered band structure between FeWO4 and C3N4 reflecting the nature-inspired Z-scheme system not only favors superior spatial separation of the electron hole pair in g-C3N4/FeWO4 but also shows good reusability. The present work provides unprecedented insights for constructing the direct Z-scheme by mimicking the nature for high performance and selective photocatalytic CO2 reduction into solar fuels under solar light.</p>
},
	keywords = {C3N4, CO2 reduction, FeWO4, Photocatalysis, solar fuels, Z-scheme},
	issn = {1944-8244},
	doi = {10.1021/acsami.8b22434},
	author = {Bhosale, Reshma and Jain, Srashti and Vinod, Chathakudath Prabhakaran and Kumar, Santosh and Ogale, Satishchandra}
}
@article {48415,
	title = {Noble-metal-free heterojunction photocatalyst for selective CO2 reduction to methane upon induced strain relaxation},
	journal = {ACS Catalysis},
	volume = {12},
	year = {2022},
	month = {JAN },
	pages = {687-697},
	type = {Article},
	abstract = {<p>
	Sunlight-driven CO2 hydrogenation has drawn tremendous attention. However, selective CH4 formation via CO2 photoreduction is very challenging. Herein, we report a metal oxide semiconductor heterojunction consisting of BiVO4 and WO3 as a photocatalyst for the efficient conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) selectively to methane (105 mu mol g(-1) h(-1)) under visible light in the absence of a sacrificial agent. Wise selection of the reaction medium and the strategically tuned heterojunction upon strain relaxation suppresses the competitive hydrogen generation reaction. The detailed photophysical, photoelectrochemical, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy studies pointed to the Z-scheme mechanism of electron transfer, which favors superior electron and hole separation compared to the individual components of the composite catalyst and other well-known photocatalysts reported for CO2 reduction. The observations are further corroborated by experimental diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy and theoretical density-functional theory calculations, which reveal that the heterojunction has a lower free-energy barrier for CO2 conversion to CH4 due to the larger stabilization of the *CH2O intermediate on the strain-relaxed heterojunction surface, in comparison to the pristine BiVO4 surface. The present work provides fundamental insights for constructing high-performance heterojunction photocatalysts for the selective conversion of CO2 to desired chemicals and fuels.</p>
},
	keywords = {CO2 reduction, heterostructure, methane, Photocatalysis, Z-scheme},
	issn = {2155-5435},
	doi = {10.1021/acscatal.1c04587},
	author = {Das, Risov and Sarkar, Shreya and Kumar, Ritesh and Ramarao, Seethiraju D. and Cherevotan, Arjun and Jasil, Mohammed and Vinod, Chathakudath P. and Singh, Abhishek Kumar and Peter, Sebastian C.}
}
