Dual-atom-site Cu@PCN photocatalyst selectively produces ethane from CO2 reduction†
Abstract
Copper-based catalysts have been considered as the most promising candidates in the solar-driven catalytic reduction of CO2 to value-added chemicals, but their catalytic performance encounters intrinsic limitations in the precise construction of copper catalytic active sites. This work employed the well-defined Cu2Cl2-bpy (bpy = 4,4′-bipyridine) as the precursor and fabricated a dual atom site Cu photocatalyst on polymeric carbon nitride (DAS-Cu@PCN) with a distance between dual Cu atoms of ∼2.8 Å. The PCN substrate enhances the stability of double Cu catalytic sites, and the appropriate Cu–Cu spacing effectively promotes the C–C coupling, which greatly improves the performance of photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Our findings provide valuable guidelines for the atom precise photocatalyst design toward highly efficient photocatalytic CO2 conversion to high value-added carbon products.