Rational Design of N‐Doped Carbon‐Coated Cobalt Nanoparticles for Highly Efficient and Durable Photothermal CO2 Conversion

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 35; no. 42; pp. e2302537 - n/a
• Main Authors: Ma, Jun, Yu, Jing, Chen, Guangyu, Bai, Yu, Liu, Shengkun, Hu, Yangguang, Al‐Mamun, Mohammad, Wang, Yu, Gong, Wanbing, Liu, Dong, Li, Yafei, Long, Ran, Zhao, Huijun, Xiong, Yujie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 19.10.2023
• Subjects: Carbon; Carbon dioxide; carbon encapsulation; Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; CO2 conversion; Durability; Hydrogenation; Materials science; metal nanoparticles; Nanoparticles; photothermal catalysis; Photothermal conversion; Pyrolysis; surface plasmons; Thickness
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202302537

Photothermal CO2 hydrogenation to high‐value‐added chemicals and fuels is an appealing approach to alleviate energy and environmental concerns. However, it still relies on the development of earth‐abundant, efficient, and durable catalysts. Here, the design of N‐doped carbon‐coated Co nanoparticles (NPs), as a photothermal catalyst, synthesized through a two‐step pyrolysis of Co‐based ZIF‐67 precursor, is reported. Consequently, the catalyst exhibits remarkable activity and stability for photothermal CO2 hydrogenation to CO with a 0.75 mol gcat−1 h−1 CO production rate under the full spectrum of light illumination. The high activity and durability of these Co NPs are mainly attributed to the synergy of the attuned size of Co NPs, the thickness of carbon layers, and the N doping species. Impressively, the experimental characterizations and theoretical simulations show that such a simple N‐doped carbon coating strategy can effectively facilitate the desorption of generated CO and activation of reactants due to the strong photothermal effect. This work provides a simple and efficient route for the preparation of highly active and durable nonprecious metal catalysts for promising photothermal catalytic reactions. N‐doped carbon‐coated Co nanoparticles, derived from two‐step pyrolysis of ZIF‐67 precursor, exhibit highly efficient and durable catalytic performance for photothermal hydrogenation of CO2. As verified by experimental observations and theoretical simulations, such a simple N‐doped carbon coating strategy can effectively promote the desorption of CO and activation of CO2 and H2 molecules due to the strong photothermal effect.