Plasma induced rich oxygen vacancies fiber-like ZnO for efficient photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Photoreduction CO2 to value-added fuels (CO, CH4, etc.) driven by solar energy gives a green way for managing the global carbon balance. Through the radio-frequency thermal plasma treatment, fiber-like structured ZnO with rich oxygen defects were successfully designed and synthesized. The rich oxygen vacancies, created new energy level, could not only hinder the recombination of photo-generated electron/hole pairs, but also broaden the light absorption range. Besides, combined the natural advantages of one-dimensional (1D) structure, which could enable itself avoid aggregation during performance evolution within the humid environment and shorten the transfer path length of the photo-induced carriers and promote more electron/hole to migration to the surface of the photocatalyst. Therefore, when applied in CO2 photoreduction, the optimal fiber-like ZnO with rich oxygen defects catalyst behaved outstanding photocatalytic performance with a CO2-to-CO rate of 15.76 μmol g-1 h−1.