Reduced graphene oxide–CuO nanocomposites for photocatalytic conversion of CO2 into methanol under visible light irradiation》.pdf

Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 181 (2016) 352–362 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Catalysis B: Environmental j o u rn al h omepage: w w w. elsev /locate/apc atb Reduced graphene oxide–CuO nanocomposites for photocatalytic conversion of CO2 into methanol under visible light irradiation Rashi Gusain, Pawan Kumar, Om P. Sharma, Suman L. Jain, Om P. Khatri ∗ Chemical Sciences Division, CSIR—Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun 248005, India a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Reduced graphene oxide (rGO)–copper oxide nanocomposites are prepared by covalent grafting of CuO Received 21 May 2015 nanorods on the rGO skeleton. Chemical and structural features of rGO–CuO nanocomposites are probed Received in revised form 31 July 2015 by FTIR, XPS, XRD and HRTEM analyses. Photocatalytic potential of rGO–CuO nanocomposites is explored Accepted 5 August 2015 for reduction of CO2 into the methanol under the visible light irradiation. The breadth of CuO nanorods and Available online 7 August 2015 the oxidation state of Cu in the rGO–CuO/Cu O nanocomposites are systematically varied to investigate 2 their photocatalytic activities. The pristine CuO nanorods exhibited very low photocatalytic activity owing Keywords: −1