METHOD FOR IMPROVING SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION EFFICIENCY OF SEMICONDUCTOR METAL OXIDE PHOTOCATALYSIS USING H2/N2 MIXED GAS PLASMA TREATMENT

摘要

Disclosed is a method for improving solar energy conversion efficiency of a metal oxide semiconductor photocatalyst, which includes rapidly performing hydrogenation and nitrogenation of a metal oxide semiconductor material through an H₂/N₂ mixed gas plasma treatment in a single process at room temperature, so as to enhance photocatalytic energy conversion efficiency. Specifically, disclosed is a treatment technique in which a plasma ball formed by controlling a mixing ratio of hydrogen gas to nitrogen gas in a range of 1:1 to 1:3 contacts with a surface of a metal oxide material, such that a great amount of oxygen vacancy and nitrogen elements are introduced in the surface of the metal oxide material to improve electron-hole pairs transfer ability thereof and decrease a size of the band-gap. A catalyst including the metal oxide material directly converts the solar energy into a compound by photocatalytic hydrogen generation and CO₂ conversion.