SrTiO₃@NiFe LDH core-shell composites for photocatalytic CO₂ conversion

A series of core@shell SrTiO₃@NiFe LDH composites (STONFs) were synthesized and their photocatalytic CO₂ reduction performance was studied. The photocatalyst STONF 2 exhibited enhanced CO₂ reduction performance with CO yield of 7.9 μmol g^-1 h^-1. The yield was 25.7 times and 8.8 times higher than that of NiFe LDH and SrTiO₃ respectively, and also higher than most LDH based photocatalysts. Compared with two individual components, STONFs exhibited their combined merits of widened absorption spectrum, higher transportation efficiency and alleviated recombination of e^-/h⁺ pairs. In addition, there were fewer oxygen vacancies in STONF 2 than as-prepared SrTiO₃. Lower oxygen vacancies concentration would increase the opportunity of direct bonding between interface atoms of two components and successively increase the electron transportation and separation. These factors synergistically contributed to enhanced photocatalytic performance. This work will provide new insight for designing complementary multi-component photocatalysis systems.