Development of metal oxide based photocatalysts for the CO2 reduction to fuel

Continuous depletion of fossil fuel resources and growing environmental concerns due to the huge CO₂ emissions, have focused the need to develop renewable and clean energy resources. CO₂ is a major greenhouse gas and cause of global warming. CO₂ capture, storage and utilization particularly, catalytic conversions of CO₂ to fuels and chemicals have attracted much attention in recent years.  Activation of CO₂ requires high amount of energy due to its stability. Harvesting the photon energy and its storage in the form of fuels hold promise to address the current and future demand of energy supply. The photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ over heterogeneous photocatalysts is a potential approach to mitigate CO₂.
 
Designing of material with suitable band gap and product selectivity remained key challenges. Problems associated are: (i) massive recombination of generated charge carriers and (ii) low yield and less selectivity for product formation and (iii) development of stable visible light active catalyst. Metal oxides with suitable properties can convert solar energy to chemical energy using artificial photosynthesis and it will be a good technique to develop sustainable environment.
 
The talk will cover my work on designing and synthesis of metal oxide catalysts for the photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to fuel.