Spherical Mesoporous SBA-15-Supported CoP Nanoparticles as Robust Selective CO2Reduction and H2-Generating Catalyst under Visible Light

Graphical CoP for photocatalysis : Sphericalmesoporous SBA-15-supported CoP nanoparticlecatalysts tuning the highly efficient photocatalytic CO-and H 2 -generating pathways with product selectivity of up to 76.3 %and 99.9 % through switching solvent, respectively, were in situ fabricated by CoP embedded on the surface and interior of the porous s-SBA-15. The highly active spherical hybrid catalysts with diameters of 3–8 μm for robust selective CO 2 photoreduction and hydrogen production by switching solvent, CoP/(i)s-SBA-15 and CoP/(o)s-SBA-15, were in situ synthesized for the first time by incorporating CoP nanoparticles on the interior and outside of the spherical mesoporous Santa Barbara Amorphous (s-SBA)-type material s-SBA-15. CoP/(i)s-SBA-15 has a larger pore diameter of ∼9.5 nm, relative to ∼5.7 nm of CoP/(o)s-SBA-15, and a calculated Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of ∼214 m 2 g −1 compared with ∼336 m 2 g −1 for the latter. In comparison with bare CoP, the composites exhibited excellent catalytic CO- and H 2 -generating performance with product selectivity of up to 76.3 % and 99.9 % through switching solvents containing Ru-based photosensitizer under ambient conditions, respectively. The influences of various solvents and electron donors, as well as the amounts of H 2 O, and catalyst on reaction kinetics for CO 2 reduction and H 2 production, and intrinsic properties of both catalysts were investigated and compared.