Molten-salt assisted synthesis of Cu clusters modified TiO2 with oxygen vacancies for efficient photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CO

Design and preparation of efficient photocatalyst for CO 2 reduction into fuels remains a serious challenge. Herein, the copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) modified TiO 2 with oxygen vacancies (OVs) samples (COCT) were obtained by a convenient molten-salt method. The liquid environment of isolate oxygen and the space confinement effect of molten-salt will lead to the generation of highly dispersed Cu NCs and stable OVs. This enables COCT to exhibit excellent photocatalytic CO 2 reduction to CO performance with the highest CO generation rate reaching 40.3 μmol h −1 g −1 , which is more competitive than most reported TiO 2 -based photocatalysts. The superior activity is ascribed to the synergistic optimization of the thermodynamics and kinetics of photocatalytic CO 2 reduction to CO by Cu NCs and OVs, insuring the reaction pathway with a lower energy barrier. Our work may provide an easy and low-cost strategy for fabricating the highly dispersed cocatalyst together with surface defect to enhance artificial photosynthesis.