Design and fabrication of semiconductor-based photocatalysts with excellent activity and reusability to convert CO₂ into hydrocarbon fuels using sunlight is very important because of the depletion of fossil resources and greenhouse effect. In this work, Cu-nanorods-modified-monoclinic LaVO₄ (Cu/m-LaVO₄) hollow microspheres were manufactured through a simple hydrothermal approach and employed as catalysts for CO₂ photoreduction using simulated sunlight. It was demonstrated that the Cu nanorods with controllable number density and diameter can vertically grow on the surface of m-LaVO₄ microspheres. The photocatalytic activity evaluation reveals that photocatalytic activity of Cu/m-LaVO₄ is much higher than that of m-LaVO₄, and a maximum CH₄ yield of 4.6 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ can be obtained over the 11.3 wt% Cu/m-LaVO₄ composites. The superior photocatalytic activity of Cu/m-LaVO₄ is mainly attributed to the synergistic effects, including the extended visible-light response, enhanced CO₂ absorption ability, high surface area, and improved charge separation. This study may provide a new strategy to design efficient LaVO₄-based photocatalysts for CO₂ reduction.

由于化石资源的消耗和温室效应，具有优异活性和可重复使用性以利用阳光将CO ₂转化为烃类燃料的半导体基光催化剂的设计和制造非常重要。在这项工作中，通过简单的水热法制备了铜纳米粒子改性的单斜LaVO ₄（Cu / m -LaVO ₄）中空微球，并将其用作模拟太阳光下的CO _2光还原催化剂。结果表明，具有可控数量密度和直径的Cu纳米棒可以在m -LaVO ₄表面垂直生长。微球。的光催化活性的评价揭示了铜的该光催化活性/米-LaVO ₄比的高得多的米-LaVO ₄，和最大CH ₄的4.6微摩尔，收率^-1  ħ ^-1可以在能够获得11.3重量％的Cu / m -LaVO ₄复合材料。Cu / m -LaVO ₄的优异光催化活性主要归因于协同效应，包括扩展的可见光响应，增强的CO ₂吸收能力，高表面积和改进的电荷分离。这项研究可能为设计有效的基于LaVO ₄的光催化剂以减少CO ₂提供了新的策略。