Anchoring Single‐Atom Ru on CdS with Enhanced CO2 Capture and Charge Accumulation for High Selectivity of Photothermocatalytic CO2 Reduction to Solar Fuels

Abstract

Using renewable solar energy to CO2 conversion to chemical fuels has been widely perceived as an alternative solution for simultaneously tackling the energy crisis and the greenhouse effect. Herein, the selectivity of the photothermocataltytic CO2 reduction with H2O vapor by single‐atom dispersed‐Ru loaded CdS is regulated. Under full solar spectrum irradiation, CO as the main product with 97.2% selectivity is observed on bare CdS, whereas the intentional introduction of optimized amount of Ru metal enables CO2 reduction to CH4 with 97.6% selectivity. A series of experiments and characterizations reveal that the single‐atom dispersed Ru serves as adsorption and active sites of CO2 molecules as well as electron traps, resulting in great improvement in CO2 uptake capability of the catalyst and the effective suppression in the recombination of photogenerated carriers. Moreover, the thermal effect synchronously induced by light has a positive influence on photocatalysis, which can prominently enhance the catalytic activity without altering the product selectivity.