Boosted Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction to CO with Perovskite CoTiO3

In this study, we report the facile synthesis of perovskite CoTiO3 nanorods and their application as an efficient, noble-metal-free cocatalyst for visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO. Under optimized conditions (MeCN/H2O/TEOA, λ > 420 nm), CoTiO3-600 enhanced the CO yield by more than 15-fold compared to the system without CoTiO3, achieving 29.9 μmol of CO after 1 h of irradiation. Isotopic labeling with 13CO2 confirmed that the evolved CO originated solely from CO2. Mechanistic investigations revealed that CoTiO3 facilitates rapid electron transfer and suppresses charge recombination, as evidenced by photoluminescence quenching. Furthermore, the cocatalyst exhibited excellent stability and reusability, with no significant structural changes observed after multiple reaction cycles. Collectively, this work demonstrates that CoTiO3 serves as a cost-effective and robust cocatalyst, holding great promise for sustainable photocatalytic CO2 fixation.