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All‐Earth‐Abundant Photothermal Silicon Platform for CO 2 Catalysis with Nearly 100% Sunlight Harvesting Ability
Author(s) -
Zhang Dake,
Lv Kangxiao,
Li Chaoran,
Fang Yaosi,
Wang Shenghua,
Chen Zhijie,
Wu Zhiyi,
Guan Wenhao,
Lou Deyue,
Sun Wei,
Yang Deren,
He Le,
Zhang Xiaohong
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
solar rrl
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.544
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2367-198X
DOI - 10.1002/solr.202000387
Subject(s) - photothermal therapy , sunlight , catalysis , materials science , noble metal , nanotechnology , sintering , silicon , chemical engineering , photothermal effect , nanoparticle , absorbance , metal , chemistry , optoelectronics , metallurgy , optics , organic chemistry , physics , engineering , chromatography
Photothermal CO 2 hydrogenation catalyzed by earth‐abundant materials, such as non‐noble metals, has emerged as an industrially viable and sustainable way of effectively converting solar energy into chemical energy stored in fuels and other valuable chemical feedstocks. However, the performance of existing non‐noble metal photocatalysts often suffers from incomplete sunlight utilization, limited photothermal effect, and poor stability under intense light illumination. Herein, the fabrication of all‐earth‐abundant on‐silicon architectures with nearly 100% sunlight harvesting ability is demonstrated. The cobalt‐loading‐optimized architecture exhibits a high photothermal CO 2 conversion rate of 0.433 mol·g Co −1 ·h −1 . A spatial confinement strategy based on surface encapsulation with a thin layer of silica is further used to improve the stability of supported Co nanoparticles against sintering. This strategy of maximizing the sunlight absorbance of non‐noble metal photocatalysts lays a foundation for industrial implementation of all‐earth‐abundant photothermal CO 2 catalysis.