High-performance light-driven heterogeneous CO2 catalysis with near-unity selectivity on metal phosphides

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 5149
• Main Authors: Xu, Yang-Fan, Duchesne, Paul N., Wang, Lu, Tavasoli, Alexandra, Ali, Feysal M., Xia, Meikun, Liao, Jin-Feng, Kuang, Dai-Bin, Ozin, Geoffrey A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 13.10.2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 147/135; 147/143; 639/638/439/890; 639/638/77/887; 639/925/357/354; Carbon dioxide; Carbonyl compounds; Carbonyls; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemical control; Heterogeneous catalysis; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogenation; INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Metals; multidisciplinary; Nanoclusters; Nanoparticles; Nickel; Phosphides; Photocatalysis; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Selectivity; Shift reaction; Unity; Water gas
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18943-2

Akin to single-site homogeneous catalysis, a long sought-after goal is to achieve reaction site precision in heterogeneous catalysis for chemical control over patterns of activity, selectivity and stability. Herein, we report on metal phosphides as a class of material capable of realizing these attributes and unlock their potential in solar-driven CO 2 hydrogenation. Selected as an archetype, Ni 12 P 5 affords a structure based upon highly dispersed nickel nanoclusters integrated into a phosphorus lattice that harvest light intensely across the entire solar spectral range. Motivated by its panchromatic absorption and unique linearly bonded nickel-carbonyl-dominated reaction route, Ni 12 P 5 is found to be a photothermal catalyst for the reverse water gas shift reaction, offering a CO production rate of 960 ± 12 mmol g cat −1  h −1 , near 100% selectivity and long-term stability. Successful extension of this idea to Co 2 P analogs implies that metal phosphide materials are poised as a universal platform for high-rate and highly selective photothermal CO 2 catalysis. There exists an urgent need to develop new materials to convert CO 2 to useful products. Here, authors demonstrate metal phosphide nanoparticles to enable light-driven CO 2 hydrogenation with high activities and near-unity selectivity.