Highly Robust Hybrid Photocatalyst for Carbon Dioxide Reduction: Tuning and Optimization of Catalytic Activities of Dye/TiO2/Re(I) Organic–Inorganic Ternary Systems

Abstract

Herein we report a detailed investigation of a highly robust hybrid system (sensitizer/TiO2/catalyst) for the visible-light reduction of CO2 to CO; the system comprises 5'-(4-[bis(4-methoxymethylphenyl)amino]phenyl-2,2'-dithiophen-5-yl)cyanoacrylic acid as the sensitizer and (4,4'-bis(methylphosphonic acid)-2,2'-bipyridine)Re(I)(CO)3Cl as the catalyst, both of which have been anchored on three different types of TiO2 particles (s-TiO2, h-TiO2, d-TiO2). It was found that remarkable enhancements in the CO2 conversion activity of the hybrid photocatalytic system can be achieved by addition of water or such other additives as Li(+), Na(+), and TEOA. The photocatalytic CO2 reduction efficiency was enhanced by approximately 300% upon addition of 3% (v/v) H2O, giving a turnover number of ≥570 for 30 h. A series of Mott-Schottky (MS) analyses on nanoparticle TiO2 films demonstrated that the flat-band potential (V(fb)) of TiO2 in dry DMF is substantially negative but positively shifts to considerable degrees in the presence of water or Li(+), indicating that the enhancement effects of the additives on the catalytic activity should mainly arise from optimal alignment of the TiO2 V(fb) with respect to the excited-state oxidation potential of the sensitizer and the reduction potential of the catalyst in our ternary system. The present results confirm that the TiO2 semiconductor in our heterogeneous hybrid system is an essential component that can effectively work as an electron reservoir and as an electron transporting mediator to play essential roles in the persistent photocatalysis activity of the hybrid system in the selective reduction of CO2 to CO.