Photoinduced CO<sub>2</sub> Conversion under Arctic Conditions─The High Potential of Plasmon Chemistry under Low Temperature
Anna Zabelina, Jakub Dedek, Olga Guselnikova, Denis Zabelin, Andrii Trelin, Elena Miliutina, Zdeňka Kolská, Jakub Siegel, Václav Švorčı́k, Jiří Váňa, Oleksiy Lyutakov
Abstract
The conversion of CO 2 to fine chemicals is an efficient tool for reducing the negative impact of human activities on the environment. In this work, we show that CO 2 capture and its sunlight-based activation can proceed efficiently even at low, practically arctic temperatures with the implementation of so-called plasmon-assisted chemistry. We propose the specific photocatalyst consisting of two parts: (i) an organic shell responsible for CO 2 capture and (ii) a plasmon-active metal nanoparticle core for activation of entrapped CO 2 and involving it in the cycloaddition reaction. The effect of temperature on the plasmon-assisted CO 2 cycloaddition was studied, and a reaction with only slight temperature sensitivity was observed. Theoretical calculations indicated a significant decrease in the “apparent” activation barrier of the reaction under the plasmon-assisted mechanism. Our results open an opportunity for the world economy to exploit the vast Arctic and Antarctic (or close to them) territories where the powerful solar potential is practically not used yet.