Coaxial electrospinning prepared Cu species loaded SrTiO₃ for efficient photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to CH₃OH

Photocatalytic CO₂ reduction plays an important role in solving environmental issues and alleviating the energy crisis. However, it is still challenging to distribute the surface-active site on photocatalysts with efficient separation of carriers in rational. Herein, the Cu species loaded SrTiO₃ nanofiber was constructed through coaxial electrospinning which could realize the dispersion of the Cu site on the one-dimensional (1D) nanofiber structure. The 1D nanofiber with Cu site exhibited superior performance on photocatalytic CO₂ reduction based on the excellent ability of charge separation. The Cu₂O and CuO were determined to be located on the surface of 1D SrTiO₃ nanofiber by the TEM and XPS. The work functions of SrTiO₃, Cu₂O, and CuO were calculated to be 5.26, 5.47, and 5.51 eV, respectively, suggesting that the carriers could transfer from SrTiO₃ nanofiber to the Cu species. The yield of CH₃OH with the optimized 8%Cu-SrTiO₃ catalyst could reach 8.08 ± 0.03 µmol⋅g⁻¹⋅h⁻¹. This work provided a coaxial electrospinning strategy to load the Cu species active site on the surface of 1D SrTiO₃ nanofiber for enhancing photoreduction CO₂.