Selective light absorber-assisted single nickel atom catalysts for ambient sunlight-driven CO2 methanation

Abstract

Ambient sunlight-driven CO2 methanation cannot be realized due to the temperature being less than 80 °C upon irradiation with dispersed solar energy. In this work, a selective light absorber was used to construct a photothermal system to generate a high temperature (up to 288 °C) under weak solar irradiation (1 kW m−2), and this temperature is three times higher than that in traditional photothermal catalysis systems. Moreover, ultrathin amorphous Y2O3 nanosheets with confined single nickel atoms (SA Ni/Y2O3) were synthesized, and they exhibited superior CO2 methanation activity. As a result, 80% CO2 conversion efficiency and a CH4 production rate of 7.5 L m−2 h−1 were achieved through SA Ni/Y2O3 under solar irradiation (from 0.52 to 0.7 kW m−2) when assisted by a selective light absorber, demonstrating that this system can serve as a platform for directly harnessing dispersed solar energy to convert CO2 to valuable chemicals.