Synthesis of bionic-macro/microporous MgO-modified TiO₂ for enhanced CO₂ photoreduction into hydrocarbon fuels

The stems of water convolvulus were employed as biotemplates for the replication of their optimized 3D hierarchical architecture to synthesize porous MgO-modified TiO₂. The photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ with H₂O vapor into hydrocarbon fuel was studied with these MgO-TiO₂ nanostructures as the photocatalysts with the benefits of improved CO₂ adsorption and activation through incorporated MgO. Various factors involving CO₂ adsorption capacity, migration of charge carriers to the surface, and the number of activity sites, which depend on the amount of added MgO, determine the photocatalytic conversion efficiency.