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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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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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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| author | Xiaodong Li Li Li Xiaohui Liu Jiaqi Xu Xingyuan Chu Guangbo Chen Dongqi Li Mingchao Wang Xia Wang Chandrasekhar Naisa Jing Gao Yongfu Sun Michael Grätzel Xinliang Feng |
| author_facet | Xiaodong Li Li Li Xiaohui Liu Jiaqi Xu Xingyuan Chu Guangbo Chen Dongqi Li Mingchao Wang Xia Wang Chandrasekhar Naisa Jing Gao Yongfu Sun Michael Grätzel Xinliang Feng |
| author_sort | Xiaodong Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a4f449fbd34e484bad7a4da3dccb0139 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-a4f449fbd34e484bad7a4da3dccb01392025-08-20T03:46:17ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111110.1038/s41467-025-61850-7Designing multi-metal-site nanosheet catalysts for CO2 photoreduction to ethyleneXiaodong Li0Li Li1Xiaohui Liu2Jiaqi Xu3Xingyuan Chu4Guangbo Chen5Dongqi Li6Mingchao Wang7Xia Wang8Chandrasekhar Naisa9Jing Gao10Yongfu Sun11Michael Grätzel12Xinliang Feng13Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of ChinaFaculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry & Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed), Dresden University of TechnologyLaboratory of Photonics and Interfaces, École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneFaculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry & Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed), Dresden University of TechnologyFaculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry & Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed), Dresden University of TechnologyFaculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry & Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed), Dresden University of TechnologyFaculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry & Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed), Dresden University of TechnologyMax Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of SolidsMax Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces, École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneHefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of ChinaLaboratory of Photonics and Interfaces, École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneMax Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2Abstract 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.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61850-7 |
| spellingShingle | Xiaodong Li Li Li Xiaohui Liu Jiaqi Xu Xingyuan Chu Guangbo Chen Dongqi Li Mingchao Wang Xia Wang Chandrasekhar Naisa Jing Gao Yongfu Sun Michael Grätzel Xinliang Feng Designing multi-metal-site nanosheet catalysts for CO2 photoreduction to ethylene Nature Communications |
| title | Designing multi-metal-site nanosheet catalysts for CO2 photoreduction to ethylene |
| title_full | Designing multi-metal-site nanosheet catalysts for CO2 photoreduction to ethylene |
| title_fullStr | Designing multi-metal-site nanosheet catalysts for CO2 photoreduction to ethylene |
| title_full_unstemmed | Designing multi-metal-site nanosheet catalysts for CO2 photoreduction to ethylene |
| title_short | Designing multi-metal-site nanosheet catalysts for CO2 photoreduction to ethylene |
| title_sort | designing multi metal site nanosheet catalysts for co2 photoreduction to ethylene |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61850-7 |
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