Flexible substrates as basis for photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide

A photocatalytic system for converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide was designed and constructed. The system relies on thin films of the photocatalyst prepared at low temperature using spray coating. We formulated inks based on the well-known photocatalyst titanium dioxide and characterized the performance in this setting. Glass substrates were used for model studies with an active area of 100 cm2 and flexible substrates based on polyethyleneterphthalate (PET), polyethylenenaphtalate (PEN) and polyethylene (PE) with a similar area for prototypes of photocatalytic converters. The results from this new setup are presented and the challenges herein compared with other research results which address the sub processes involved—photoinduced degradation of polymers, decomposition of catalyst surfactant and inactivation of the catalyst efficiency by carbonaceous residues, etc.

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► Low temperature spray coated photocatalysts on flexible substrates.
► Photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide.
► Photoinduced degradation of polymer based carrier substrates.
► Challenges for scalability of photocatalytic converters.
► Prototypes of photocatalytic converts studied using carbon-13 labeling.