中央研究院 原子與分子科學研究所

Photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to hydrocarbons such as methanol makes possible simultaneous solar energy harvesting and CO₂ reduction, two birds with one stone for the energy and environmental issues. This work describes a high photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ to methanol using graphene oxides (GOs) as a promising photocatalyst. Modified Hummer’s method has been applied to synthesize the GO based photocatalyst for the enhanced catalytic activity. The photocatalytic CO₂ to methanol conversion rate on modified graphene oxide (GO-3) is 0.172 mmole g-cat^-1 h^-1 under visible light, which is six-fold higher than the pure TiO₂.