Enhanced photocatalytic CO2 conversion over LaPO4 by introduction of CoCl2 as a hole mediator

The photocatalytic CO2 reduction over LaPO4 was significantly enhanced by simply introducing CoCl2 into the aqueous medium. The introduced CoCl2 functioned as a co-catalyst accelerating photogenerated hole transfer, by the reversible redox couple Co-III-Cl/Co-II-Cl, effectively suppressing the recombination of photogenerated charges.