Solar Energy-Driven Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction: Photothermal Effect, Photoelectric Activation and Selectivity Regulation.

Excessive carbon dioxide (CO) emissions are one of the main causes of the greenhouse effect. Thermal catalytic reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction, which is a pre reaction for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, is considered an effective way to convert CO and synthesize high value-added chemicals in industry. However, traditional thermal catalysis requires a large amount of fossil fuels to drive reactions, which cannot achieve the true goal of carbon neutrality.

Highly Active Hydrogen-rich Photothermal Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction on Ni/LaInO Perovskite Catalysts with Near-unity Selectivity.

Photo-assisted reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction is regarded green and promising in controlling the reaction gas ratio in Fischer Tropsch synthesis. But it is inclined to produce more byproducts in high H concentration condition. Herein, LaInO loaded with Ni-nanoparticles (Ni NPs) was designed to obtain an efficient photothermal RWGS reaction rate, where LaInO was enriched with oxygen vacancies to roundly adsorbing CO and the strong interaction with Ni NPs endowed the catalysts with powerful H activity.

A Photoactivated Cu-CeO Catalyst with Cu-[O]-Ce Active Species Designed through MOF Crystal Engineering.

Fully utilizing solar energy for catalysis requires the integration of conversion mechanisms and therefore delicate design of catalyst structures and active species. Herein, a MOF crystal engineering method was developed to controllably synthesize a copper-ceria catalyst with well-dispersed photoactive Cu-[O]-Ce species. Using the preferential oxidation of CO as a model reaction, the catalyst showed remarkably efficient and stable photoactivated catalysis, which found practical application in feed gas treatment for fuel cell gas supply.