Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 over TiO2 nanowires catalyst

TiO2 is one of the most common photocatalysts at the moment. One-dimensional TiO2, which has a high specific surface area, is of particular interest. The properties of such nanowires will largely depend on the phase composition, which affects the width of the optical band gap. This paper presents the results of a study of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanowires depending on the phase composition using the reduction of CO2 to methane and methanol as an example. The formation of TiO2 nanowires was carried out using a hydrothermal synthesis method from a commercial TiO2 powder. After synthesis, the nanowires were thermally treated in air to obtain nanowires with different phase compositions. The morphology and phase composition of TiO2 nanowires were studied. The resulting nanowires had a size of about 8 μm and a diameter of about 330 nm.