Photoinduced Reaction Pathway Change for Boosting CO<sub>2</sub> Hydrogenation over a MnO-Co Catalyst
Bo‐Hang Zhao, Mengyao Sun, Fanpeng Chen, Weichao Wang, Siyu Lu, Bin Zhang
Abstract
Developing low-cost catalytic materials to utilize both solar and thermal energy and unveiling the photoinduced reaction pathway change mechanism are highly desirable for photothermo catalytic CO2 hydrogenation. Here, a low-cost Co-supported MnO catalyst is predesigned and synthesized as a model PTC catalyst. Under PTC conditions (1.0 W cm–2), the activity and C2+ selectivity are 3- and 2-times higher than those of the traditional thermal catalytic conditions (150 °C). The wavelength-dependent performance enhancement, in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, and in situ ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal that the photoenhanced strong metal–oxide interaction between Co and MnO can enrich electrons of Co to induce the different initial hydrogenation reaction pathways. The distinct reaction pathway changes from the formate mechanism under TC conditions to the reverse water–gas shift followed by subsequently *CO hydrogenation (RWGS-CO hydro) under PTC conditions. Furthermore, such a photoinduced pathway change leads to a lower activation energy barrier, thus promoting CO2 hydrogenation under PTC conditions.