Recent Trends in Plasmon‐Assisted Photocatalytic CO₂ Reduction

Abstract

Direct photocatalytic reduction of CO2 has become an highly active field of research. It is thus of utmost importance to maintain an overview of the various materials used to sustain this process, find common trends, and, in this way, eventually improve the current conversions and selectivities. In particular, CO2 photoreduction using plasmonic photocatalysts under solar light has gained tremendous attention, and a wide variety of materials has been developed to reduce CO2 towards more practical gases or liquid fuels (CH4, CO, CH3OH/CH3CH2OH) in this manner. This Review therefore aims at providing insights in current developments of photocatalysts consisting of only plasmonic nanoparticles and semiconductor materials. By classifying recent studies based on product selectivity, this Review aims to unravel common trends that can provide effective information on ways to improve the photoreduction yield or possible means to shift the selectivity towards desired products, thus generating new ideas for the way forward.

Mechanistic Insights into the Phase Formation of an Atypical Iron Oxynitride (FexOyNz) System and Its Multifunctional Photocatalytic Applications

“…These plots clearly show that the oxynitride system (FN400) has significantly lower interfacial resistance compared to the bare oxide and nitride systems . This observation suggests that the synergy between the nitride and oxide phases paves the way for the effective transfer of charge carriers via Ohmic contact, which could facilitate the transfer of both hot electrons and cold electrons in the system as depicted in Figure b. , …”

High-Density Ultrafine Au Nanocluster-Doped Co-LDH Nanocages for Enhanced Visible-Light-Driven CO2 Reduction

“…To address these issues, various methods have been developed, such as constructing heterojunction, metal deposition, heteroatom doping, and so on. − For example, the Shi group reported that a Cu-doped CeO 2– x with rich oxygen vacancies can improve light capture and charge transfer efficiency and can obtain a higher CO production rate of 1.65 μmol h –1 g –1 compared with the undoped one . Recently, the Lou group prepared the In 2 S 3 –CdIn 2 S 4 heterojunction catalyst and obtained an excellent CO 2 reduction rate (825 μmol h –1 g –1 ) under visible light.…”

Plasmon photocatalytic CO2 reduction reactions over Au particles on various substrates

“…Since CO 2 reduction with H 2 O was reported for the first time in the late 1970's, 1,2 plenty of studies have been reported, including catalyst materials, the utilization of solar energy, and improvement of catalytic activity of CO 2 photoreduction. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Although great advances have been made hitherto, there are still two major challenges, 13 i.e., the lack of appropriate visible light-responsive materials and low photocatalytic activity. The first one is mainly because many high-catalytic-performance materials (such as TiO 2 , ZnO, and ZnS) usually have a wide bandgap and show absorption responses in the near UV range.…”

“…Since CO 2 reduction with H 2 O was reported for the first time in the late 1970's, 1,2 plenty of studies have been reported, including catalyst materials, the utilization of solar energy, and improvement of catalytic activity of CO 2 photoreduction. 3–12 Although great advances have been made hitherto, there are still two major challenges, 13 i.e. , the lack of appropriate visible light-responsive materials and low photocatalytic activity.…”