Integrable Utilization of Intermittent Sunlight and Residual Heat for On-demand CO Conversion with Water

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2024 Nov 23

PMID 39578437

Authors

Xianjin Shi

Wei Peng

Yu Huang

Chao Gao

Yiman Fu

Zhenyu Wang

Leting Yang

Zixuan Zhu

Junji Cao

Fei Rao

Gangqiang Zhu

Shuncheng Lee

Yujie Xiong

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Abundant residual heat from industrial emissions may provide energy resource for CO conversion, which relies on H gas and cannot be accomplished at low temperatures. Here, we report an approach to store electrons and hydrogen atoms in catalysts using sunlight and water, which can be released for CO reduction in dark at relatively low temperatures (150-300 °C), enabling on-demand CO conversion. As a proof of concept, a model catalyst is developed by loading single Cu sites on hexagonal tungsten trioxide (Cu/WO). Under light illumination, hydrogen atoms are generated through photocatalytic water splitting and stored together with electrons in Cu/WO, forming a metastable intermediate (Cu/HWO). Subsequent activation of Cu/HWO through low-temperature heating releases the stored electrons and hydrogen atoms, reducing CO into valuable products. Furthermore, we demonstrate the practical feasibility of utilizing natural sunlight to drive the process, opening an avenue for harnessing intermittent solar energy for CO utilization.

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