Synthesis of zinc / titanium monolithic photocatalysts and applications thereof

Abstract

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photocatalytic composite. The photocatalytic composite comprises zinc cobalt oxide nanorods (ZnCo2O4 NRs); and titanium dioxide (TiO2), wherein said photocatalytic composite has a monolithic structure. According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a monolithic ZnCo2O4/TiO2 composite. The method comprises the steps of: obtaining ZnCo2O4 nanorods; obtaining a titanium dioxide sol-gel precursor; mixing the ZnCo2O4 nanorods and the titanium dioxide sol-gel precursor to form a ZnCo2O4/TiO2 sol; obtaining a monolith substrate; and forming a monolithic ZnCo2O4/TiO2 composite from the ZnCo2O4/TiO2 sol and the monolith substrate using a sol-gel-dip coating method. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the use of a photocatalytic composite according to the present invention for photocatalytic reduction of CO2. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of photocatalytic reduction of CO2 using a photocatalytic composite, comprising the steps of: obtaining a monolithic ZnCo2O4/TiO2 composite; and reducing CO2 using the monolithic ZnCo2O4/TiO2 composite.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.