Integrated Photothermal Nanoreactors for Efficient Hydrogenation of CO₂

Abstract

To alleviate the energy crisis and global warming, photothermal catalysis is an attractive way to efficiently convert CO₂ and renewable H₂ into value-added fuels and chemicals. However, the catalytic performance is usually restricted by the trade-off between the dispersity and light absorption property of metal catalysts. Here we demonstrate a simple SiO₂-protected metal–organic framework pyrolysis strategy to fabricate a new type of integrated photothermal nanoreactor with a comparatively high metal loading, dispersity, and stability. The core-satellite structured Co@SiO₂ exhibits strong sunlight-absorptive ability and excellent catalytic activity in CO₂ hydrogenation, which is ascribed to the functional separation of different sizes of Co nanoparticles. Large-sized plasmonic Co nanoparticles are mainly responsible for the light absorption and conversion to heat (nanoheaters), whereas small-sized Co nanoparticles with high intrinsic activities are responsible for the catalysis (nanoreactors). This study provides a new concept for designing efficient photothermal catalytic materials.

Keywords

CO₂ hydrogenation / Photothermal catalysis / Integrated photothermal reactor / Light absorption property / Intrinsic catalytic capacity

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