Photo‐Dissociation of CO <sub>2</sub> over Plasmonic RuO <sub>2</sub> Nanoparticles
Eduardo Morais, K. Ravindranathan Thampi, James A. Sullivan
Abstract
Abstract The synthesis, characterisation and application of RuO 2 nanoparticles through a facile hydrothermal preparation technique is described. The prepared solid is extensively characterised and shown to have a narrow size distribution (1.6–3.2 nm) and exhibit an intense surface plasmon resonance giving rise to an absorption band peaking at λ=424 nm. This material is applied in gas‐phase artificial photosynthesis reactions, and interestingly, the only products observed are CO and O 2 (at a constant 2 : 1 ratio). Even though this RuO 2 catalyst is unable to perform the water‐splitting step of the artificial photosynthesis reaction, it is active in the CO 2 photo‐decomposition reaction (ΔG (298.15 K)= 64.41 Kcal mol −1 ), and thus it may be a convenient catalyst for downstream production of methanol or hydrocarbons from a CO 2 feedstock.