Enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction by constructing an In2O3–CuO heterojunction with CuO as a cocatalyst

Under the excitation of light on the photocatalyst, artificial photosynthesis can effectively realize the conversion of CO2 into chemical raw materials or fuels. Here, the combination of In2O3 and CuO not only solves the shortcomings of low carrier separation efficiency and poor light absorption performance of a single catalyst but also improves the catalytic efficiency of the catalyst. The generation rate of CO is 7 times higher than that of bare In2O3. In particular, the photocatalyst can further convert CO2 to methanol. In this work, a simple method was used to prepare In2O3–CuO, indicating the possibility of enhanced photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide by binary hybridization.