Hierarchical flower-like ternary composite of NiFeCr/PCN/CeO₂ towards efficient photocatalytic reduction of CO₂

Searching for semiconductor heterostructures with efficient photocatalytic activity and selectivity towards CO₂ reduction is highly desired to lessen the speedy depletion of energy resources. Herein, a hierarchical flower-like ternary layered double hydroxides (LDHs) of NiFeCr-LDH-(PCN/CeO₂-15%) was fabricated via in situ introduction of polymeric carbon nitride/cerium oxide (PCN/CeO₂) and applied for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction. The hierarchical flower-like heterostructure makes available more exposed surface-active sites to substantially enhance the light-harvesting capability. The charge transfer among the individual components stimulates the separation of photogenerated charge carriers and reduces their recombination rate, thus promoting the photocatalytic conversion towards CO₂ reduction. The as-prepared NiFeCr-LDH-(PCN/CeO₂-15%) heterostructure exhibits an exceptional photocatalytic CO formation rate of 52.1μmolg⁻¹h⁻¹, which is 7.1, 2.9, and 4.6 times than that of pristine PCN, PCN/CeO2, and pure NiFeCr-LDH, respectively. The magnificent photocatalytic activities are verified by the XPS and HRTEM evaluations, which demonstrate strong electronic interactions amongst heterostructure components. The present work not only achieves enhanced photocatalytic performance of NiFeCr-LDH-(PCN/CeO₂-15%) heterostructure but also could provide a new approach to explore different LDHs-based semiconductors towards efficient CO₂ reduction. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd