Prepared Pd/MgO/BiVO4 composite for photoreduction of CO2 to CH4

In this study, several Pd/MgO/BiVO 4 nanocomposites were prepared using the hydrothermal method and their effective photocatalyst activity for the photoreduction of CO 2 to CH 4 was investigated. The microstructure and photocatalytic behavior of the prepared photocatalysts were studied through X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, tunneling electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. CH 4 yields of 5.9 and 9.4 μmol g −1 hr −1 were obtained using BiVO 4 and 25% MgO/BiVO 4 nanocomposites, respectively. The highest production rate of CH 4 was measured as 12.8 μmol g −1 hr −1 on overloading 0.3% Pd on 25% MgO/BiVO 4 . Pd/MgO/BiVO 4 exhibited excellent CO 2 photoreduction stability with negligible loss after five consecutive cycles. Finally, a possible mechanism of CO 2 photoreduction using Pd/MgO/BiVO 4 was proposed for understanding the synergistic effects. The results of the experiment revealed that Pd/MgO/BiVO 4 can be a promising photocatalyst in solar energy conversion and storage application and can achieve excellent CO 2 photoreduction performance.