Plasmonic Titanium Nitride Facilitates Indium Oxide CO<sub>2</sub> Photocatalysis
Nhat Truong Nguyen, Tingjiang Yan, Lu Wang, Joel Y. Y. Loh, Paul N. Duchesne, Chengliang Mao, Peicheng Li, Feysal M. Ali, Meikun Xia, Mireille Ghoussoub, Nazir P. Kherani, Zheng‐Hong Lu, Geoffrey A. Ozin
Abstract
Abstract Nanoscale titanium nitride TiN is a metallic material that can effectively harvest sunlight over a broad spectral range and produce high local temperatures via the photothermal effect. Nanoscale indium oxide‐hydroxide, In 2 O 3− x (OH) y , is a semiconducting material capable of photocatalyzing the hydrogenation of gaseous CO 2 ; however, its wide electronic bandgap limits its absorption of photons to the ultraviolet region of the solar spectrum. Herein, the benefits of both nanomaterials in a ternary heterostructure: TiN@TiO 2 @In 2 O 3− x (OH) y are combined. This heterostructured material synergistically couples the metallic TiN and semiconducting In 2 O 3− x (OH) y phases via an interfacial semiconducting TiO 2 layer, allowing it to drive the light‐assisted reverse water gas shift reaction at a conversion rate greatly surpassing that of its individual components or any binary combinations thereof.