ZnO nanowire arrays decorated 3D N-doped reduced graphene oxide nanotube framework for enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction performance

Photocatalytic CO 2 reduction is considered as a potential route to solve the increasing energy crisis and greenhouse effect. However, CO 2 activation is still a big challenge because of the formidable electron transfer to CO 2 . Herein, an effective strategy was developed to facilitate CO 2 activation and reduction by in situ growth of ZnO nanowire arrays (ZnO NWAs) on the electronic-rich surface of three-dimensional (3D) N-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO). Thanks to the positive effects of 3D N-rGO, ZnO/N-rGO exhibits a significantly enhanced photocatalytic CO 2 reduction to CH 3 OH performance (CH 3 OH-production rate of 1.51 μmol h −1 g -1 ), which was ca . 2.3 and 4.7 times higher than that of the pristine ZnO and commercial ZnO, respectively. It is found that 3D N-rGO can work as a trifunctional co-catalyst to support the uniform growth of ZnO NWAs, effectively improve the separation of electron-hole pairs and act as CO 2 adsorption and reduction active sites. This work exhibits a facile method to prepare 3D N-rGO-based composite materials, and also demonstrates that N-rGO is a promising multifunctional co-catalyst for photoreduction of CO 2 .