Near-infrared-featured broadband CO2 reduction with water to hydrocarbons by surface plasmon
Canyu Hu, Xing Chen, Jingxiang Low, Yaw‐Wen Yang, Hao Li, Di Wu, Shuangming Chen, Jianbo Jin, He Li, Huanxin Ju, Chia‐Hsin Wang, Zhou Lu, Ran Long, Li Song, Yujie Xiong
Abstract
Abstract Imitating the natural photosynthesis to synthesize hydrocarbon fuels represents a viable strategy for solar-to-chemical energy conversion, where utilizing low-energy photons, especially near-infrared photons, has been the ultimate yet challenging aim to further improving conversion efficiency. Plasmonic metals have proven their ability in absorbing low-energy photons, however, it remains an obstacle in effectively coupling this energy into reactant molecules. Here we report the broadband plasmon-induced CO 2 reduction reaction with water, which achieves a CH 4 production rate of 0.55 mmol g −1 h −1 with 100% selectivity to hydrocarbon products under 400 mW cm −2 full-spectrum light illumination and an apparent quantum efficiency of 0.38% at 800 nm illumination. We find that the enhanced local electric field plays an irreplaceable role in efficient multiphoton absorption and selective energy transfer for such an excellent light-driven catalytic performance. This work paves the way to the technique for low-energy photon utilization.