Loaded Cu-Er metal iso-atoms on graphdiyne for artificial photosynthesis

Abstract

Herein we report a bimetal atomic catalyst that features atomically dispersed Cu and Er atoms anchored on all crystalline graphdiyne (CuEr-GDY) for efficient artificial photosynthesis converting CO2 into sustainable fuel at the gas–solid interfaces with water as reducing medium instead of organic reagent. The CuEr-GDY can promote the efficient separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs to drive water oxidation and CO2 activation/reduction, together with Cu/Er promoted CO2/H2O adsorption and CO desorption. This result indicates that bimetallic atoms on the high-crystalline GDY surface have high activity. This heteroatomic catalyst of CuEr-GDY demonstrates high catalytic activity with the reaction selectivity up to 97.6%, and the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction is almost completely suppressed. The CO2 conversion achieves the CO yield of 181.04 μmol g−1 h−1 under ambient conditions.