IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-36980-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Improving CO2 photoconversion with ionic liquid and Co single atoms

Author

Listed:
  • Yang Liu

    (Heilongjiang University)

  • Jianhui Sun

    (Heilongjiang University
    Heilongjiang University)

  • Houhou Huang

    (Jilin University Changchun)

  • Linlu Bai

    (Heilongjiang University)

  • Xiaomeng Zhao

    (Heilongjiang University)

  • Binhong Qu

    (Heilongjiang University)

  • Lunqiao Xiong

    (University College London)

  • Fuquan Bai

    (Jilin University Changchun)

  • Junwang Tang

    (University College London)

  • Liqiang Jing

    (Heilongjiang University)

Abstract

Photocatalytic CO2 conversion promises an ideal route to store solar energy into chemical bonds. However, sluggish electron kinetics and unfavorable product selectivity remain unresolved challenges. Here, an ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, and borate-anchored Co single atoms were separately loaded on ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets. The optimized nanocomposite photocatalyst produces CO and CH4 from CO2 and water under UV–vis light irradiation, exhibiting a 42-fold photoactivity enhancement compared with g-C3N4 and nearly 100% selectivity towards CO2 reduction. Experimental and theoretical results reveal that the ionic liquid extracts electrons and facilitates CO2 reduction, whereas Co single atoms trap holes and catalyze water oxidation. More importantly, the maximum electron transfer efficiency for CO2 photoreduction, as measured with in-situ μs-transient absorption spectroscopy, is found to be 35.3%, owing to the combined effect of the ionic liquid and Co single atoms. This work offers a feasible strategy for efficiently converting CO2 to valuable chemicals.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang Liu & Jianhui Sun & Houhou Huang & Linlu Bai & Xiaomeng Zhao & Binhong Qu & Lunqiao Xiong & Fuquan Bai & Junwang Tang & Liqiang Jing, 2023. "Improving CO2 photoconversion with ionic liquid and Co single atoms," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36980-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36980-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36980-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-36980-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaodong Li & Yongfu Sun & Jiaqi Xu & Yanjie Shao & Ju Wu & Xiaoliang Xu & Yang Pan & Huanxin Ju & Junfa Zhu & Yi Xie, 2019. "Selective visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CH4 mediated by atomically thin CuIn5S8 layers," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(8), pages 690-699, August.
    2. Mohammad Asadi & Bijandra Kumar & Amirhossein Behranginia & Brian A. Rosen & Artem Baskin & Nikita Repnin & Davide Pisasale & Patrick Phillips & Wei Zhu & Richard Haasch & Robert F. Klie & Petr Král &, 2014. "Robust carbon dioxide reduction on molybdenum disulphide edges," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Yiou Wang & Xu Liu & Xiaoyu Han & Robert Godin & Jialu Chen & Wuzong Zhou & Chaoran Jiang & Jamie F. Thompson & K. Bayazit Mustafa & Stephen A. Shevlin & James R. Durrant & Zhengxiao Guo & Junwang Tan, 2020. "Unique hole-accepting carbon-dots promoting selective carbon dioxide reduction nearly 100% to methanol by pure water," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Chaofeng Huang & Yaping Wen & Jin Ma & Dandan Dong & Yanfei Shen & Songqin Liu & Haibo Ma & Yuanjian Zhang, 2021. "Unraveling fundamental active units in carbon nitride for photocatalytic oxidation reactions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    5. Xiang Wang & Hui Shi & János Szanyi, 2017. "Controlling selectivities in CO2 reduction through mechanistic understanding," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-6, December.
    6. Li Qin Zhou & Chen Ling & Hui Zhou & Xiang Wang & Joseph Liao & Gunugunuri K. Reddy & Liangzi Deng & Torin C. Peck & Ruigang Zhang & M. Stanley Whittingham & Chongmin Wang & Ching-Wu Chu & Yan Yao & H, 2019. "A high-performance oxygen evolution catalyst in neutral-pH for sunlight-driven CO2 reduction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, December.
    7. Laura Collado & Anna Reynal & Fernando Fresno & Mariam Barawi & Carlos Escudero & Virginia Perez-Dieste & Juan M. Coronado & David P. Serrano & James R. Durrant & Víctor A. Peña O’Shea, 2018. "Unravelling the effect of charge dynamics at the plasmonic metal/semiconductor interface for CO2 photoreduction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yao Chai & Yuehua Kong & Min Lin & Wei Lin & Jinni Shen & Jinlin Long & Rusheng Yuan & Wenxin Dai & Xuxu Wang & Zizhong Zhang, 2023. "Metal to non-metal sites of metallic sulfides switching products from CO to CH4 for photocatalytic CO2 reduction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Honglin & Liu, Yanrong & Laaksonen, Aatto & Krook-Riekkola, Anna & Yang, Zhuhong & Lu, Xiaohua & Ji, Xiaoyan, 2020. "Carbon recycling – An immense resource and key to a smart climate engineering: A survey of technologies, cost and impurity impact," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    2. TsingHai Wang & Cheng-Di Dong & Jui-Yen Lin & Chiu-Wen Chen & Jo-Shu Chang & Hyunook Kim & Chin-Pao Huang & Chang-Mao Hung, 2021. "Recent Advances in Carbon Dioxide Conversion: A Circular Bioeconomy Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-31, June.
    3. Vijay K. Velisoju & Jose L. Cerrillo & Rafia Ahmad & Hend Omar Mohamed & Yerrayya Attada & Qingpeng Cheng & Xueli Yao & Lirong Zheng & Osama Shekhah & Selvedin Telalovic & Javier Narciso & Luigi Caval, 2024. "Copper nanoparticles encapsulated in zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 as a stable and selective CO2 hydrogenation catalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Yilong Zhao & Yunxuan Ding & Wenlong Li & Chang Liu & Yingzheng Li & Ziqi Zhao & Yu Shan & Fei Li & Licheng Sun & Fusheng Li, 2023. "Efficient urea electrosynthesis from carbon dioxide and nitrate via alternating Cu–W bimetallic C–N coupling sites," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Pranav P. Sharma & Xiao‐Dong Zhou, 2017. "Electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to fuels: a review on the interaction between CO2 and the liquid electrolyte," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(4), July.
    6. Xiaoqing Yan & Mengyang Xia & Hanxuan Liu & Bin Zhang & Chunran Chang & Lianzhou Wang & Guidong Yang, 2023. "An electron-hole rich dual-site nickel catalyst for efficient photocatalytic overall water splitting," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Xinfeng Chen & Chengdong Peng & Wenyan Dan & Long Yu & Yinan Wu & Honghan Fei, 2022. "Bromo- and iodo-bridged building units in metal-organic frameworks for enhanced carrier transport and CO2 photoreduction by water vapor," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Zheng-Jie Chen & Jiuyi Dong & Jiajing Wu & Qiting Shao & Na Luo & Minwei Xu & Yuanmiao Sun & Yongbing Tang & Jing Peng & Hui-Ming Cheng, 2023. "Acidic enol electrooxidation-coupled hydrogen production with ampere-level current density," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Yao Chai & Yuehua Kong & Min Lin & Wei Lin & Jinni Shen & Jinlin Long & Rusheng Yuan & Wenxin Dai & Xuxu Wang & Zizhong Zhang, 2023. "Metal to non-metal sites of metallic sulfides switching products from CO to CH4 for photocatalytic CO2 reduction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Mohammad Qorbani & Amr Sabbah & Ying-Ren Lai & Septia Kholimatussadiah & Shaham Quadir & Chih-Yang Huang & Indrajit Shown & Yi-Fan Huang & Michitoshi Hayashi & Kuei-Hsien Chen & Li-Chyong Chen, 2022. "Atomistic insights into highly active reconstructed edges of monolayer 2H-WSe2 photocatalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    11. Yifan Gao & Shuai Liang & Biming Liu & Chengxu Jiang & Chenyang Xu & Xiaoyuan Zhang & Peng Liang & Menachem Elimelech & Xia Huang, 2023. "Subtle tuning of nanodefects actuates highly efficient electrocatalytic oxidation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Pribyl-Kranewitter, B. & Beard, A. & Gîjiu, C.L. & Dinculescu, D. & Schmidt, T.J., 2022. "Influence of low-temperature electrolyser design on economic and environmental potential of CO and HCOOH production: A techno-economic assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Yan Shen & Chunjin Ren & Lirong Zheng & Xiaoyong Xu & Ran Long & Wenqing Zhang & Yong Yang & Yongcai Zhang & Yingfang Yao & Haoqiang Chi & Jinlan Wang & Qing Shen & Yujie Xiong & Zhigang Zou & Yong Zh, 2023. "Room-temperature photosynthesis of propane from CO2 with Cu single atoms on vacancy-rich TiO2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    14. Zeshu Zhang & Chengliang Mao & Débora Motta Meira & Paul N. Duchesne & Athanasios A. Tountas & Zhao Li & Chenyue Qiu & Sanli Tang & Rui Song & Xue Ding & Junchuan Sun & Jiangfan Yu & Jane Y. Howe & We, 2022. "New black indium oxide—tandem photothermal CO2-H2 methanol selective catalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    15. Huihui Zhang & Chang Xu & Xiaowen Zhan & Yu Yu & Kaifu Zhang & Qiquan Luo & Shan Gao & Jinlong Yang & Yi Xie, 2022. "Mechanistic insights into CO2 conversion chemistry of copper bis-(terpyridine) molecular electrocatalyst using accessible operando spectrochemistry," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    16. Xiaodong Li & Li Li & Guangbo Chen & Xingyuan Chu & Xiaohui Liu & Chandrasekhar Naisa & Darius Pohl & Markus Löffler & Xinliang Feng, 2023. "Accessing parity-forbidden d-d transitions for photocatalytic CO2 reduction driven by infrared light," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    17. Ji, Xiuling & Guo, Hao & Xue, Yaju & Huang, Yuhong & Zhang, Suojiang, 2023. "Microenvironment: An efficient avenue for converting CO2 to high-value compounds," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    18. Jiahui Bi & Pengsong Li & Jiyuan Liu & Shuaiqiang Jia & Yong Wang & Qinggong Zhu & Zhimin Liu & Buxing Han, 2023. "Construction of 3D copper-chitosan-gas diffusion layer electrode for highly efficient CO2 electrolysis to C2+ alcohols," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Yajuan Ma & Xiaoxuan Yi & Shaolei Wang & Tao Li & Bien Tan & Chuncheng Chen & Tetsuro Majima & Eric R. Waclawik & Huaiyong Zhu & Jingyu Wang, 2022. "Selective photocatalytic CO2 reduction in aerobic environment by microporous Pd-porphyrin-based polymers coated hollow TiO2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    20. Min Zhou & Zhiqing Wang & Aohan Mei & Zifan Yang & Wen Chen & Siyong Ou & Shengyao Wang & Keqiang Chen & Peter Reiss & Kun Qi & Jingyuan Ma & Yueli Liu, 2023. "Photocatalytic CO2 reduction using La-Ni bimetallic sites within a covalent organic framework," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36980-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.