Preparation and characterization of SrTiO sub(3)-ZnTe nanocomposites for the visible-light photoconversion of carbon dioxide to methane

Limited fossil fuel resources and increasingly stringent requirement of environmental protection from major greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO sub(2)), which results directly from the burning of fossil fuels, energy savings and greenhouse-effect alleviation have emerged as major global concerns. The development of an "artificial photosynthetic system" (APS) having both the analogous important structural elements and the reaction features of photosynthesis to achieve solar-driven water splitting and CO sub(2) reduction is highly challenging. Herein, it has been demonstrated that SrTiO sub(3)-ZnTe can be utilized as an efficient APS for the photoreduction of CO sub(2) into methane (CH sub(4)) under visible-light irradiation ( greater than or equal to 420 nm). The results indicate that the combination of ZnTe with SrTiO sub(3) visibly increases the formation of CH sub(4) by efficiently promoting electron transfer from the conduction band of ZnTe to that of SrTiO sub(3) under visible-light irradiation, and thereby demonstrate this to be a promising candidate for the photocatalytic conversion of CO sub(2) into hydrocarbon fuels.