Engineering semiconductor quantum dots for co-upcycling of CO2 and biomass-derived alcohol

Utilizing semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) to construct a bifunctional reaction system of coupling CO2 reduction with biomass valorization represents an appealing approach for the production of useable fuels and value-added chemicals. Herein, we present an efficient cooperative photocatalytic proces...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 12; no. 30; pp. 19029 - 19038
Main Authors Lin-Xing, Zhang, Tang, Zi-Rong, Ming-Yu, Qi, Yi-Jun, Xu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 30.07.2024
Subjects
Biomass
Cadmium selenides
Cadmium sulfide
Carbon dioxide
Electrons
Fuels
Furfural
Furfuryl alcohol
Heterostructures
Liquid fuels
Oxidation
Photocatalysis
Photoredox catalysis
Quantum dots
Shell stability
Silicon dioxide
Spherical shells
Synthesis gas
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Summary:Utilizing semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) to construct a bifunctional reaction system of coupling CO2 reduction with biomass valorization represents an appealing approach for the production of useable fuels and value-added chemicals. Herein, we present an efficient cooperative photocatalytic process for simultaneously achieving the reduction of CO2 to syngas and the oxidation of biomass-derived furfuryl alcohol to furfural and hydrofuroin over SiO2-supported CdSe/CdS QDs (CdSe/CdS–SiO2). The type-II band alignment in CdSe/CdS core/shell heterostructures enables effective charge separation and interfacial charge migration concurrently. By further assembly onto a spherical SiO2 support, the optimized CdSe/CdS–SiO2 composite exhibits remarkably enhanced activities for syngas and furfural/hydrofuroin production, which are 2.3 and 3.5 times higher than those of binary CdSe/CdS core/shell QDs, and 90.4 and 18.5 times higher than those of bare CdSe QDs, along with good stability. In particular, by altering the thickness of the CdS shell, the syngas CO/H2 ratio can be precisely modulated within a wide range (1.6 to 7.1), which serves as crucial feedstock for the production of liquid fuels. This work is expected to develop core/shell QD-based photocatalysts for versatile and available photoredox-catalyzed reaction systems that integrate CO2 valorization with biomass upgrading.
ISSN:2050-7488
2050-7496
DOI:10.1039/d4ta01996b