Isolated Cobalt Centers on WO Nanowires Perform As a Reaction Switch for Efficient CO Photoreduction

Isolated cobalt atoms have been successfully decorated onto the surface of WO ultrathin nanowires. The Co-atom-decorated WO nanowires (WO@Co) greatly accelerate the charge carrier separation and electron transport in the catalytic system. Moreover, the surface decoration with Co atoms modifies the energy configuration of the WO@Co hybrid and thus boosts the redox capability of photoexcited electrons for CO reduction. The decorated Co atoms work as the real active sites and, perhaps more importantly, perform as a reaction switch to enable the reaction to proceed. The optimized catalyst delivers considerable activity for photocatalytic CO reduction, yielding an impressive CO generation rate of 21.18 mmol g h.