Low-coordination environment design of single Co atoms for efficient CO2 photoreduction
Zhentao Ma, Qingyu Wang, Limin Liu, Rong-Ao Zhang, Qichen Liu, Peigen Liu, Liang Wu, Chengyuan Liu, Yu Bai, Yida Zhang, Haibin Pan, Xusheng Zheng
Abstract
Photocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to carbon monoxide (CO) offers a promising way for both alleviating the greenhouse effect and meeting the industrial demand. Herein, we constructed a Co single-atom catalyst with intentional low-coordination environment design on porous ZnO (denoted as Co 1 /ZnO). Impressively, Co 1 /ZnO exhibited a remarkable activity with a CO yield rate of 22.25 mmol·g −1 ·h −1 and a selectivity of 80.2% for CO 2 photoreduction reactions under visible light. The incorporation of single Co atoms provided an additional photo-generated electron transfer channel, which suppressed the carrier recombination of photocatalysts. Moreover, the unsaturated Co active sites were capable to adsorb CO 2 molecule spontaneously, thus facilitating the activation of CO 2 molecule during CO 2 reduction course.