Chlorine tailored p-d blocks dual-metal atomic catalyst for efficient photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Abstract

Solar-driven CO2 conversion into solar fuels has attracted much attention, but suffers from the low catalytic efficiency. Herein, we reports an In based dual-metal atomically dispersed photocatalyst consisting of Cl tailored p-d blocks active sites anchored on carbon nitride nanosheets. The CO2 photoreduction on CuInCN exhibits an excellent CO production rate of 1.2 mmol g−1 h−1, nearly ten times higher than that on CN. Combined experimental investigation with DFT calculation, this work reveals that d-block Cu metal introduced into InCN enhances the light absorption, electronic conductivity, and charge separation, as the same time, provides the abundant active sites. Subsequently, Cl atom in the structure further promotes the charge separation and electron mobility, modulates the electronic structure of Cu-In to make them synergistically interact via In-N-Cu configuration, greatly lowering the energy barrier of *COOH formation. Consequently, these make CuInCN act an effective photocatalyst for CO2 conversion.