Biomolecule assisted hydrothermal synthesis of indium intercalated 2D ZrSe2 microflowers for photocatalytic CO2 reduction to MeOH and CH4

[Display omitted] •Indium (In)-intercalated zirconium diselenide (InZrSe2) microflowers.•Biomolecule Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis.•Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction to C1 fuels.•Photocatalytic Degradation of Congo red dye. Indium (In)-intercalated zirconium diselenide (InZrSe2) microflowers were prepared through solvothermal method assisted with alginic acid biomolecule. The In intercalation into 2D ZrSe2 nanostructures helped for the nucleation process along with cationic stability and improved crystallinity as well as morphology. The InZrSe2 microflowers have optimized bandgap value i.e., 1.65 eV and showed good photocatalytic CO2 conversion to methanol and methane through hydrogenation. The results showed satisfied selectivity for methanol (87%) during CO2 photoconversion with production rate up to 740.574µmolg-1h−1 and rate of methane hydrogenation (54% selectivity) to be 10.12µmolg-1h−1. Also, the photocatalytic degradation of Congo red (CR) was observed up to 86% for 10 ppm solution.