Infrared-Light-Driven CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction Realized by a Charge-Asymmetrical Metallic Conductor
Qinyuan Hu, Zhixing Zhang, Yefeng Yu, Wenxiu Liu, Jiaqi Xu, Wensheng Yan, Jun Hu, Junfa Zhu, Yang Pan, Jianrong Zeng, Xiaodong Li, Qingxia Chen, Xingchen Jiao, Yi Xie
Abstract
Until now, there has been a paradox in the utilization of infrared (IR) light, which carries a significant amount of solar energy (around 50% of the spectrum), for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) photoreduction. Given this, we propose a metallic conductor with charge-asymmetrical active sites, which realizes IR-driven CO 2 reduction into C 2 fuels using water as the reducing agent. Taking the CuInS 2 nanosheets as an example, their metallic nature is verified by valence-band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, which enable IR light absorption. Their charge-asymmetrical active sites, confirmed by Bader charge calculations, promote C–C coupling. We employ cobalt atom doping to increase the asymmetric charge distribution on the Cu and In atoms in the CuInS 2 nanosheets, lowering the *COH–CO formation energy barrier. These results further verify that the charge-asymmetrical active sites in a metallic conductor can boost C–C coupling for generating C 2 products for IR-driven CO 2 reduction.