2018-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS2018 Volume 2. Amatore Intl. Symp. / on Electrochemistry for Sustainable Development
| Editors: | F. Kongoli, H. Inufasa, M. G. Boutelle , R. Compton, J.-M. Dubois, F. Murad |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2018 |
| Pages: | 216 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-987820-84-3 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
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Assessment of Polydopamine and Nafion effect in the functionalization of TiO2 nanotubes electrodes with Cu2O nanocubes for the photoelectrocatalytic conversion of CO2 under visible light
Lilian Danielle de Moura Torquato1; Fabian Andree Cerda Pastrian2; João Angelo Lima Perini3; Juliana Ferreira de Brito4; Susana Ines Cordoba de Torresi2; Maria Valnice Boldrin Zanoni4;1SAO PAULO STATE UNIVERSITY (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil; 2UNIVERSITY OF SAO PAULO, São Paulo, Brazil; 3SãO PAULO STATE UNIVERSITY (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil; 4INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY-ARARAQUARA UNESP, Araraquara, Brazil;
Type of Paper: Regular
Id Paper: 321
Topic: 47
Abstract:
An environmental threat concern for the Earth's climate is the excessive level of CO<sub>2</sub> in the atmosphere, which reached an astounding 408 ppm in February 2018. Thus, the development of efficient alternatives for removal, sequestration, use, and conversion of this gas through higher value-added products has become a great challenge nowadays [1]. With remarkable advances in the past decades, photoelectrocatalysis techniques have proven to be viable alternatives for CO<sub>2</sub> conversion to formic acid, methane, methanol [2] and ethanol [3]. The present work investigates the properties of Polydopamine (PDA) and Nafion® (NF) as mediator's polymers in the modification of TiO<sub>2</sub> nanotubes (NtTiO<sub>2</sub>) with Cu<sub>2</sub>O nanocubes (NcCu<sub>2</sub>O) and its applicability in CO<sub>2</sub> conversion. The use of PDA and NF promoted great adhesion of NcCu<sub>2</sub>O previously synthesized as demonstrated by the results of MEV-FEG, Infra-Red, Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy, and photocurrent vs potential curves. However, NtTiO<sub>2</sub>/PDA-NcCu<sub>2</sub>O electrodes showed better adhesion and stability, higher performance when excited by UV-Vis irradiation, and good photoactivation even when excited by solar radiation. Assessment of the photoelectrocatalytic performance of both electrodes in the CO<sub>2</sub> reduction dissolved in 0.1 mol L-1 Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>, pressure of 1 kg f cm-2, applied potential of 0.2 V vs Ag/AgCl and UV/Vis irradiation, indicates that the results are improved at NtTiO<sub>2</sub>/PDA-NcCu<sub>2</sub>O electrodes. The selective conversion of CO<sub>2</sub> to methanol after 120 min of photoelectrolysis was 14% (10 ppm), 40% (7 ppm) and 20% (4 ppm) higher when PDA was used, and the system illuminated by UV/Vis radiation of 300 W, 125 W lamp and solar simulator radiation, respectively. Our findings indicate that the use of PDA is a good strategy to obtain heterojunction p-n semiconductors and to improve its performance in the visible light region. The photoelectrocatalysis conducted at NtTiO<sub>2</sub>/PDA-NcCu<sub>2</sub>O is a promising alternative to convert CO<sub>2</sub> to added value compounds.