skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Semiconductor-Based, Solar-Driven Photochemical Cells for Fuel Generation from Carbon Dioxide in Aqueous Solutions

Journal Article · · ChemSusChem
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO (United States)

There has been active interest to identify new methods to reduce CO2 into usable fuel sources. In this work, we demonstrate two types of photo-electrochemical cells (PECs) that photoreduce CO2 directly to formate in aqueous solutions both in the presence and absence of external bias or additional electron sources. The photocathodes were either a CuFeO2/CuO electrode or a bilayer of CdTe on NiO, whereas the photoanode was a bilayer of NiOx on CdS. The PECs were characterized by using both electrochemistry and spectroscopy, and the products formed from CO2 reduction were characterized and quantified by using 1H NMR spectroscopy and ESI-MS. In addition, an organohydride catalyst was tested in conjunction with the PECs, which not only showed a significant gain of 85 times in CO2 reduction (27 μm formate without the catalyst, 2.3 mm formate with it) compared to the NiO/CdTe photocathode system but could also generate methanol under an external bias (10 μm).

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0006398
OSTI ID:
1533150
Journal Information:
ChemSusChem, Vol. 9, Issue 22; ISSN 1864-5631
Publisher:
ChemPubSoc EuropeCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 16 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (73)

Overall Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting using Tandem Cell under Simulated Sunlight journal December 2015
Powering the planet: Chemical challenges in solar energy utilization journal October 2006
A new homogeneous electrocatalyst for the reduction of carbon dioxide to methanol at low overpotential journal July 1994
Photoelectrochemistry of cadmium sulfide. 1. Reanalysis of photocorrosion and flat-band potential journal June 1988
Stable Quantum Dot Photoelectrolysis Cell for Unassisted Visible Light Solar Water Splitting journal October 2014
Reduction of CO 2 to Methanol Catalyzed by a Biomimetic Organo-Hydride Produced from Pyridine journal November 2014
Visible-light-driven hydrogen production with extremely high quantum efficiency on Pt–PdS/CdS photocatalyst journal September 2009
A cobalt complex redox shuttle for dye-sensitized solar cells with high open-circuit potentials journal January 2012
Selective methanol production from photocatalytic reduction of CO2 on BiVO4 under visible light irradiation journal November 2012
GaN:ZnO Solid Solution as a Photocatalyst for Visible-Light-Driven Overall Water Splitting journal June 2005
CdTe, CdSe, and CdS Nanocrystals for Highly Efficient Regeneration of Nicotinamide Cofactor Under Visible Light journal April 2010
Photocatalytic Carbon Dioxide Reduction with Rhodium-based Catalysts in Solution and Heterogenized within Metal-Organic Frameworks journal January 2015
Factors in the Metal Doping of BiVO 4 for Improved Photoelectrocatalytic Activity as Studied by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy and First-Principles Density-Functional Calculation journal August 2011
Carbon Dioxide Capture: Prospects for New Materials journal July 2010
[Co(bpy) 3 ] 3+/2+ and [Co(phen) 3 ] 3+/2+ Electron Mediators for Overall Water Splitting under Sunlight Irradiation Using Z-Scheme Photocatalyst System journal March 2013
Electrochemistry of CdS Nanoparticles:  A Correlation between Optical and Electrochemical Band Gaps journal September 2001
High-Performance Silicon Photoanodes Passivated with Ultrathin Nickel Films for Water Oxidation journal November 2013
Electrocatalytic and Photocatalytic Conversion of CO 2 to Methanol using Ruthenium Complexes with Internal Pyridyl Cocatalysts journal June 2014
Electrical and Photoelectrochemical Properties of WO 3 /Si Tandem Photoelectrodes journal March 2013
Photo-assisted water oxidation with cobalt-based catalyst formed from thin-film cobalt metal on silicon photoanodes journal January 2011
Enhanced Hydrogen Production from DNA-Assembled Z-Scheme TiO 2 -CdS Photocatalyst Systems journal July 2015
Surface Modification of CoO x Loaded BiVO 4 Photoanodes with Ultrathin p -Type NiO Layers for Improved Solar Water Oxidation journal April 2015
Water Oxidation on a CuWO 4 –WO 3 Composite Electrode in the Presence of [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3– : Toward Solar Z-Scheme Water Splitting at Zero Bias journal January 2012
CO 2 Hydrogenation to Formate and Methanol as an Alternative to Photo- and Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction journal August 2015
The teraton challenge. A review of fixation and transformation of carbon dioxide journal January 2010
Nanoporous BiVO4 Photoanodes with Dual-Layer Oxygen Evolution Catalysts for Solar Water Splitting journal February 2014
Photochemical and Photoelectrochemical Reduction of CO 2 journal May 2012
Semiconductor Nanocrystals: Structure, Properties, and Band Gap Engineering journal February 2010
Amorphous TiO2 coatings stabilize Si, GaAs, and GaP photoanodes for efficient water oxidation journal May 2014
Synergism between CdTe semiconductor and pyridine – photoenhanced electrocatalysis for CO 2 reduction to formic acid journal January 2014
Solar Water Splitting Cells journal November 2010
Anthropogenic Chemical Carbon Cycle for a Sustainable Future journal August 2011
Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Formic Acid journal May 2014
Abscheidung von Kohlendioxid: Perspektiven für neue Materialien journal July 2010
Artificial photosynthesis: water cleavage into hydrogen and oxygen by visible light journal December 1981
Solar Fuels via Artificial Photosynthesis journal December 2009
Photosynthesis of formate from CO 2 and water at 1% energy efficiency via copper iron oxide catalysis journal January 2015
Electrostatically Assembled CdS-Co 3 O 4 Nanostructures for Photo-assisted Water Oxidation and Photocatalytic Reduction of Dye Molecules journal September 2014
Cu2O-loaded gas diffusion electrodes for the continuous electrochemical reduction of CO2 to methanol journal November 2016
Hydrothermal Synthesis for High-Quality CdTe Nanocrystals journal October 2003
Towards the electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide into methanol journal January 2015
Self-assembled photosystem-I biophotovoltaics on nanostructured TiO2 and ZnO journal February 2012
Novel Carbon-Doped TiO 2 Nanotube Arrays with High Aspect Ratios for Efficient Solar Water Splitting journal January 2006
Phosphate Doping into Monoclinic BiVO4 for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Activity journal February 2012
A solution-processed, mercaptoacetic acid-engineered CdSe quantum dot photocathode for efficient hydrogen production under visible light irradiation journal January 2015
An Iron Electrocatalyst for Selective Reduction of CO 2 to Formate in Water: Including Thermochemical Insights journal November 2015
Visible-Light-Induced Selective CO 2 Reduction Utilizing a Ruthenium Complex Electrocatalyst Linked to a p-Type Nitrogen-Doped Ta 2 O 5 Semiconductor journal June 2010
Unbiased Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting in Z-Scheme Device Using W/Mo-Doped BiVO 4 and Zn x Cd 1− x Se journal March 2013
Production of methanol from CO2 electroreduction at Cu2O and Cu2O/ZnO-based electrodes in aqueous solution journal October 2015
Mg-Doped CuFeO 2 Photocathodes for Photoelectrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide journal June 2013
Photocatalytic Reduction of CO 2 on TiO 2 and Other Semiconductors journal June 2013
Selective Solar-Driven Reduction of CO 2 to Methanol Using a Catalyzed p-GaP Based Photoelectrochemical Cell journal May 2008
Selective CO 2 Conversion to Formate Conjugated with H 2 O Oxidation Utilizing Semiconductor/Complex Hybrid Photocatalysts journal October 2011
Photoelectrochemical reduction of aqueous carbon dioxide on p-type gallium phosphide in liquid junction solar cells journal September 1978
Stabilized CdSe-CoPi Composite Photoanode for Light-Assisted Water Oxidation by Transformation of a CdSe/Cobalt Metal Thin Film journal March 2013
How copper catalyzes the electroreduction of carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels journal January 2010
Light-Driven Heterogeneous Reduction of Carbon Dioxide: Photocatalysts and Photoelectrodes journal August 2015
Photochemical Deposition of Pt on CdS for H 2 Evolution from Water: Markedly Enhanced Activity by Controlling Pt Reduction Environment journal January 2013
Cluster Models for Studying CO2 Reduction on Semiconductor Photoelectrodes journal November 2014
An anion exchange approach to Bi2WO6 hollow microspheres with efficient visible light photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to methanol journal January 2012
New insights into the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on metallic copper surfaces journal January 2012
Phosphate Doping into Monoclinic BiVO4 for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Activity journal February 2012
Reduced Graphene Oxide as a Solid-State Electron Mediator in Z-Scheme Photocatalytic Water Splitting under Visible Light journal July 2011
Integrated photosystem II-based photo-bioelectrochemical cells journal January 2012
Photocatalyst releasing hydrogen from water journal March 2006
Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 into formate with [(η5Me5C5)M(L)Cl]+ complexes (L = 2,2′-bipyridine ligands; M  Rh(III) and Ir(III)) journal August 1997
Photochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol and Formate in a Homogeneous System with Pyridinium Catalysts journal October 2013
Reduction of CO[sub 2] on n-GaAs Electrodes and Selective Methanol Synthesis journal January 1984
Catalysts and Reaction Pathways for the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide journal September 2015
Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production with Tunable Nanorod Heterostructures journal March 2010
Enhanced Hydrogen Production from DNA-Assembled Z-Scheme TiO 2 -CdS Photocatalyst Systems journal July 2015
Visible-Light-Induced Selective CO 2 Reduction Utilizing a Ruthenium Complex Electrocatalyst Linked to a p-Type Nitrogen-Doped Ta 2 O 5 Semiconductor journal June 2010
Photokatalytische Reduktion von CO 2 an TiO 2 und anderen Halbleitern journal June 2013

Cited By (3)

Photoelectrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol through a Highly Efficient Enzyme Cascade journal January 2017
Rh( iii )-Catalyzed switchable C–H functionalization of 2-(1 H -pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine with internal alkynes journal January 2020
Photoelectrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol through a Highly Efficient Enzyme Cascade journal January 2017