Plasmonic Ni-doped W18O49 with dual active sites drives efficient methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether
Dehua Tian, Yinlan Liang, Zhaoke Zheng, Liang Mao, Xiaoyan Cai, Yizhen Chen, Xiangxian Wang, Xiaolei Liu, Juan Li, Zeyan Wang, Can Xue, Baojun Li, Zaizhu Lou
Abstract
Abstract Photocatalytic methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether (DME) offers a sustainable alternative to energy-intensive thermocatalysis, yet its practical application remains constrained by low efficiency. Herein, we designed Ni-doped plasmonic W 18 O 49 nanowires that synergistically integrates low-coordinated W and Ni dual active sites with surface plasmon resonance for enhanced photocatalytic performance. The synergistic effect of W and Ni dual sites is amplified by plasmonic electron oscillations to facilitate the C-O bond cleavage and C-O-C coupling, driving efficient methanol-to-DME conversion. The optimized Ni 0.66 -W 18 O 49 achieves a DME yield of 133.7 ± 3.3 mmol g -1 h -1 with 98.7% selectivity under 400 mW cm -2 illumination. The versatility of the catalyst is demonstrated through C 2+ alcohol dehydration, achieving 40-80% rate enhancements and a recorded isobutylene yield of 3.7 mol g -1 h -1 . This study highlights the huge potential of rationally engineered plasmonic semiconductors in solar-driven chemical synthesis, particularly for C-O bond activation and coupling reactions.