Effective photoelectrocatalytic reduction of CO2to formic acid using controllably annealed TiO2nanoparticles derived from porous structured Ti foil

Abstract

The rate of global warming and unfavorable climate changes caused by the drastic upsurge of carbon dioxide (CO<inf>2</inf>) emission has necessitated the development of approaches to limit the significantly high concentration of CO<inf>2</inf> in the atmosphere. The photoelectrochemical reduction of CO<inf>2</inf> results in a reduction of the energy required to transform this greenhouse gas into valuable end products. In this study, we fabricated cost-effective and novel 3D nanoporous structured (3DNS) TiO2 nanoparticles (T-NPs) on the surface of a thin titanium foil (T-foil) by chemical treatment with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) followed by calcination at high temperatures in the range of 400-800 °C. The as-proposed samples were analyzed by several characterizations such as XRD, XPS, TEM, and Raman spectroscopy. At 600 °C, the anatase-dominated mixed phases of calcinated T-foil (TO600) were seen, and a maximum photocurrent density of 71.5 μA/cm2 was obtained, in comparison to the T-foils treated at other temperatures (TO400, TO500, TO700, and TO800). Because of the better photocurrent density, TO600 was selected as the photocathode material for photoelectrochemical CO<inf>2</inf> reduction performed with or without the presence of solar light. The lowest CO<inf>2</inf> reduction onset potential (-1.191 V) was observed on the TO600 sample in the presence of light with Ag/AgCl as the reference electrode. 1H NMR analysis of the product solution revealed the formation of formic acid as the major product of the CO<inf>2</inf> reduction reaction after the chronoamperometric electrolysis was performed for more than 25 h. The maximum faradaic efficiency (64%) and formic acid yield (165 μmol cm-2 h-1) were obtained at an applied potential of-1.3 V (vs. Ag/AgCl reference electrode) for TO600. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd.