Heterojunction-assisted photocatalytic CO2 reduction
Feiyan Xu a b
a China University of Geoscience
b Polytechnic University of Valencia
Proceedings of MATSUS Fall 2025 Conference (MATSUSFall25)
E9 Frontiers in MXene Research: From Fundamentals to Applications - #MXFrontiers
València, Spain, 2025 October 20th - 24th
Organizers: Sara GOBERNA FERRON and Ana Primo
Invited Speaker, Feiyan Xu, presentation 394
Publication date: 21st July 2025

The excessive exploitation of fossil fuels has led to escalating energy shortages and CO2 emissions, posing severe threats to sustainable development. Against the backdrop of carbon neutrality goals, green CO2 conversion technologies have garnered significant attention. Among them, photocatalytic CO2 reduction offers a sustainable route to convert CO2 into value-added solar fuels using abundant sunlight. However, current systems face critical challenges such as rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers and insufficient redox capability, which limit overall efficiency. To address these bottlenecks: (1) A SnO2/CDs Ohmic heterojunction was constructed by incorporating carbon quantum dots (CDs) into SnO2 nanofibers. Under illumination, photogenerated electrons in SnO2 are driven to the CDs surface by band bending and the built-in electric field, where they are synergistically excited with the intrinsic free electrons of CDs via localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), forming a stable carrier cycling mechanism that prolongs carrier lifetime. Enhanced light absorption and efficient CO2 chemisorption by CDs further boost the photocatalytic performance. (2) An In2O3/Nb2O5 S-scheme heterojunction was fabricated via one-step electrospinning, achieving tight interfacial contact and ultrafast charge transfer (<10 ps). The photogenerated electrons and holes accumulate in the conduction band of Nb2O5 and the valence band of In2O3, respectively, benefiting from extended carrier lifetimes and strong redox potential. Moreover, the strong CO2 adsorption and activation capability of Nb2O5 contributes to the improved catalytic activity. (3) To further overcome charge recombination and reaction kinetics mismatch, a spatially engineered Nb2C/Nb2O5/ZnO ternary heterostructure is developed by anchoring ZnO quantum dots (QDs) onto Nb2O5 nanorods grown in situ from Nb2C MXene. This architecture integrates an Nb2O5/ZnO S-scheme heterojunction and an Nb2C/Nb2O5 Schottky junction, both sharing Nb2O5 as a central mediator, thereby establishing bidirectional interfacial electric fields (IEFs) that direct photogenerated electrons toward ZnO and holes toward Nb2C. This spatial charge separation effectively suppresses Coulombic recombination and prolongs carrier lifetimes. Additionally, the intrinsic photothermal effect of Nb2C MXene enhances CO2 chemisorption and activation at defective ZnO QDs. These synergistic effects collectively enable high-efficiency CO2 photoreduction without molecular cocatalysts or sacrificial agents, providing a mechanistically distinct and scalable approach for artificial photosynthesis.

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