A novel Ru/TiO2 hybrid nanocomposite catalyzed photoreduction of CO2 to methanol under visible light

A novel in situ synthesized Ru(bpy)3/TiO2 hybrid nanocomposite is developed for the photoreduction ofCO2 into methanol under visible light irradiation. The prepared composite was characterized by means ofSEM, TEM, XRD, DT–TGA, XPS, UV–Vis and FT-IR techniques. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesizedhybrid catalyst was tested for the photoreduction of CO2 under visible light using triethylamineas a sacrificial donor. The methanol yield for the Ru(bpy)3/TiO2 hybrid nanocomposite was found to be1876 μmol g−1 cat (ϕMeOH 0.024 mol Einstein−1) that was much higher in comparison with the in situ synthesizedTiO2, 828 μmol g−1 cat (ϕMeOH 0.010 mol Einstein−1) and the homogeneous Ru(bpy)3Cl2complex, 385 μmol g−1 cat (ϕMeOH 0.005 mol Einstein−1).