Designing multi-metal-site nanosheet catalysts for CO2 photoreduction to ethylene
Abstract Catalysts featuring multiple active sites hold significant potential for CO2 photoconversion to multi-carbon products. However, multi-metal-site catalysts typically face challenges with low yields and selectivity for ethylene production, with a lack of definitive design guidelines. Here we...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61850-7 |
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| Summary: | Abstract Catalysts featuring multiple active sites hold significant potential for CO2 photoconversion to multi-carbon products. However, multi-metal-site catalysts typically face challenges with low yields and selectivity for ethylene production, with a lack of definitive design guidelines. Here we show that Bader charge can serve as a critical descriptor for delineating the structure–activity relationship of kesterite-like nanosheets in the reduction of CO2 to ethylene. We propose the Bader-Regulate-Performance principle — apposite Bader charge can provide a moderate energy barrier for intermediate adsorption and C-C coupling simultaneously, thus promoting the performance for ethylene generation. Among the predicted multi-metal-site nanosheets, the Cu2ZnSnS4, with the appropriate Bader charge, achieves a high ethylene yield of 25.16 µmol g−1 h−1 with electron selectivity of 72.4% under visible light irradiation, surpassing those of reported photocatalysts under similar catalytic conditions. Our findings provide crucial insights into the design of efficient catalysts for photocatalytic CO2 conversion to multi-carbon products. |
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| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |