Аннотация:Nanosized titanium dioxide (TiO2) is currently being actively studied by the global scientificcommunity, since it has a number of properties that are important from a practical point of view.One of these properties is a large specific surface, which makes this material promising for use inphotocatalysts, sensors, solar cells, etc. In this work, we prepared photocatalysts based on TiO2nanotubes for converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into energy-intensive hydrocarbon compounds.Efficient gas-phase CO2 conversion in the prepared single-walled TiO2 nanotube-CuxO compositeswas investigated. Parameters of defects (radicals) in composites were studied. Methanol and methanewere detected during the CO2 photoreduction process. In single-walled TiO2 nanotubes, onlyTi3+/oxygen vacancy defects were detected. The Cu2+ centers and O2− radicals were found in TiO2nanotube-CuxO composites using the EPR technique. It has been established that copper oxidenanoparticles are present in the TiO2 nanotube-CuxO composites in the form of the CuO phase. Aphase transformation of CuO to Cu2O takes place during illumination, as has been shown by EPRspectroscopy. It is shown that defects accumulate photoinduced charge carriers. The mechanism ofmethane and methanol formation is discussed. The results obtained are completely original and showhigh promise for the use of TiO2-CuxO nanotube composites as photocatalysts for CO2 conversioninto hydrocarbon fuel precursors.
