Enhanced photocatalytic reduction of CO2 by fabricating In2O3/CeO2/HATP hybrid multi-junction photocatalyst

A series of novel porous indium (III) oxide (In 2 O 3 ) and nanocubic cerium oxide (CeO 2 ) loading HCl treated attapulgite (HATP) ternary photocatalysts were successfully synthesized. Simultaneously, all photocatalysts were performed the CO 2 reduction under UV-light. To explore the crystal structures, morphologies and electrochemical characteristics of as-synthesized samples, the XRD, SEM and TEM, and transient photocurrent techniques were performed in this work. Besides, as an optimized In 2 O 3 /CeO 2 /HATP sample presents the highest activity for CO (32.03 µmol/g) and CH 4 (16.94 µmol/g) yields, which is 6.11-fold and 6.78-fold times higher than those of pure CeO 2 under UV-light (8 W) irradiation.