In the present work, the physico-chemical and photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction to methanol properties of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) were enhanced by the incorporation of CuO. The XRD, XPS, TEM, FESEM, UV–vis and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy techniques were used to characterize the synthesized g-C₃N₄ and CuO/g-C₃N₄ photocatalysts. The fabricated CuO/g-C₃N₄/carbon paper photocathode showed ∼10.0 times enhanced photocurrent response and 5.3 times enhanced incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) than the g-C₃N₄/carbon paper photocathode under CO₂ atmosphere in aqueous NaHCO₃ electrolyte solution on 470 nm light irradiation. The higher IPCE of CuO/g-C₃N₄/carbon paper photocathode was attributed to the higher absorption of the incident visible light which results in efficient electron (e⁻-hole (h⁺) pair generation and charge transfer for the PEC conversion of CO₂. The production of methanol in aqueous phases was analysed and found to be 4.1 and 2.6 times higher by CuO/g-C₃N₄/carbon paper photocathode than g-C₃N₄/carbon paper and CuO/carbon paper photocathodes, respectively. The CuO/g-C₃N₄/carbon paper photocathode showed Faradaic efficiency and quantum efficiency of 75 % and 8.9 %, respectively for the production of methanol. The plausible mechanism for the production of methanol by CuO/g-C₃N₄/carbon paper photocathode by PEC reaction was also discussed.

在目前的工作中，通过引入CuO可以增强物理化学和光电催化（PEC）二氧化碳（CO ₂）还原石墨氮化碳（gC ₃ N ₄）的甲醇性能。XRD，XPS，TEM，FESEM，UV-vis和光致发光（PL）光谱技术用于表征合成的gC ₃ N ₄和CuO / gC ₃ N ₄光催化剂。所制造的CuO / GC ₃ Ñ ₄ /碳纸光电阴极表现出比GC〜10.0倍增强的光电流响应和5.3倍增强的入射光子到电流效率（IPCE）₃ Ñ ₄碳/碳纸光电阴极在NaHCO ₃水溶液中以CO ₂气氛在470 nm的光下辐照。CuO的更高IPCE / GC ₃ Ñ ₄ /碳纸光电阴极归因于入射可见光的较高的吸收在其中有效的电子的结果（E ^- -空穴（H ⁺）对产生和对CO的转化PEC电荷转移₂，生产甲醇的水相进行分析，结果为4.1更高和2.6倍的CuO / GC ₃ ñ ₄ /碳纸光电阴极比GC ₃ ñ ₄/碳纸和CuO /碳纸光电阴极。CuO / gC ₃ N ₄ /碳纸光电阴极的甲醇生产法拉第效率和量子效率分别为75％和8.9％。还讨论了通过PEC反应由CuO / gC ₃ N ₄ /碳纸光电阴极生产甲醇的可能机理。