CO2 dissociation activated through electron attachment on reduced rutile TiO2(110)-1x1 surface
Abstract
Converting CO2 to useful compounds through the solar photocatalytic reduction has been one of the most promising strategies for artificial carbon recycling. The highly relevant photocatalytic substrate for CO2 conversion has been the popular TiO2 surfaces. However, the lack of accurate fundamental parameters that determine the CO2 reduction on TiO2 has limited our ability to control these complicated photocatalysis processes. We have systematically studied the reduction of CO2 at specific sites of the rutile TiO2(110)-1x1 surface using scanning tunneling microscopy at 80 K. The dissociation of CO2 molecules is found to be activated by one electron attachment process and its energy threshold, corresponding to the CO2-/CO2 redox potential, is unambiguously determined to be 2.3 eV higher than the onset of the TiO2 conduction band. The dissociation rate as a function of electron injection energy is also provided. Such information can be used as practical guidelines for the design of effective catalysts for CO2 photoreduction.
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