Photocatalytic conversion of CO₂into hydrocarbon fuels with standard titania (Degussa P25) using newly installed experimental setup

Abstract

Photoreduction of <TEX>$CO_2$</TEX> into hydrocarbon fuels on the surface of photocatalyst is one of the breakthroughs in the field of photocatalysis. At present various approaches have been investigated with the aim of increasing the <TEX>$CO_2$</TEX> conversion efficiency. The reactor for photoconversion of <TEX>$CO_2$</TEX> plays a vital role in experimental setup. In this work an attempt was made to testify a newly designed the photoreactor for conversion of <TEX>$CO_2$</TEX> into useful products. The photoreactor was specifically designed for simple operation bearing features of temperature and pressure control. The reactor has been tested successively with the standard titania, Degussa P25 yielding methane with moderate production rate of 30.8 <TEX>$ppm{\cdot}g^{-1}{\cdot}h^{-1}$</TEX> under UV lamp with 365 nm wavelength. The methane yield obtained is comparable to the values reported in literature. Thus we anticipate that this experimental setup equipped with newly designed photoreactor can yield competitive amounts of fuels from <TEX>$CO_2$</TEX> photoredcution via 365 nm UV light illumination on various photocatalysts.