TY - JOUR
T1 - Low Temperature Sunlight-Powered Reduction of CO2 to CO Using a Plasmonic Au/TiO2 Nanocatalyst
AU - Martínez Molina, Pau
AU - Meulendijks, Nicole
AU - Xu, Man
AU - Verheijen, Marcel A.
AU - den Hartog, Tim
AU - Buskens, Pascal
AU - Sastre, Francesc
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Sunlight-powered reduction of CO2 to fuels and chemicals is a promising strategy to close the carbon loop and facilitate the energy transition. In this research, we demonstrate that Au nanoparticles supported on TiO2 are an efficient plasmonic catalyst for the sunlight-powered reverse water-gas shift (rWGS) reaction. A maximum CO production rate of 429 mmol ⋅ gAu−1 ⋅ h−1 with a selectivity of 98 % and an apparent quantum efficiency of 4.7 % were achieved using mildly concentrated sunlight (1.44 W ⋅ cm−2 equals 14.4 sun). The CO production rate showed an exponential increase with increasing light intensity, suggesting that the process is mainly promoted by a photothermal effect. Thermal reference experiments with the same catalysts promoted CH4 formation, dropping the CO selectivity to 70 %. Thus, mildly concentrated sunlight can efficiently and selectively enhance the promotion of the rWGS reaction without using external heating.
AB - Sunlight-powered reduction of CO2 to fuels and chemicals is a promising strategy to close the carbon loop and facilitate the energy transition. In this research, we demonstrate that Au nanoparticles supported on TiO2 are an efficient plasmonic catalyst for the sunlight-powered reverse water-gas shift (rWGS) reaction. A maximum CO production rate of 429 mmol ⋅ gAu−1 ⋅ h−1 with a selectivity of 98 % and an apparent quantum efficiency of 4.7 % were achieved using mildly concentrated sunlight (1.44 W ⋅ cm−2 equals 14.4 sun). The CO production rate showed an exponential increase with increasing light intensity, suggesting that the process is mainly promoted by a photothermal effect. Thermal reference experiments with the same catalysts promoted CH4 formation, dropping the CO selectivity to 70 %. Thus, mildly concentrated sunlight can efficiently and selectively enhance the promotion of the rWGS reaction without using external heating.
KW - Carbon Dioxide
KW - CO
KW - Photochemistry
KW - Reverse Water-Gas Shift
KW - solar light
KW - Surface plasmon resonance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115063872&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/cctc.202100699
DO - 10.1002/cctc.202100699
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85115063872
SN - 1867-3880
VL - 13
SP - 4507
EP - 4513
JO - ChemCatChem
JF - ChemCatChem
IS - 21
ER -