High‐Rate, Tunable Syngas Production with Artificial Photosynthetic Cells. Issue 23 (30th April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Hongwen; Ming, Jintao; Zhao, Jiwu; Gu, Quan; Xu, Chao; Ding, Zhengxin; Yuan, Rusheng; Zhang, Zizhong; Lin, Huaxiang; Wang, Xuxu; Long, Jinlin
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie international edition. Volume 58:Issue 23(2019)
• Page Start: 7718
• Page End: 7722
• Publication Date: 2019-04-30
• Subjects: graphene -- photoanodes -- photosynthetic cells -- single-site heterogeneous catalysis -- syngas production; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201902361
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1433-7851

Abstract

Abstract: An artificial photosynthetic (APS) system consisting of a photoanodic semiconductor that harvests solar photons to split H2 O, a Ni‐SNG cathodic catalyst for the dark reaction of CO2 reduction in a CO2 ‐saturated NaHCO3 solution, and a proton‐conducting membrane enabled syngas production from CO2 and H2 O with solar‐to‐syngas energy‐conversion efficiency of up to 13.6 %. The syngas CO/H2 ratio was tunable between 1:2 and 5:1. Integration of the APS system with photovoltaic cells led to an impressive overall quantum efficiency of 6.29 % for syngas production. The largest turnover frequency of 529.5 h −1 was recorded with a photoanodic N‐TiO2 nanorod array for highly stable CO production. The CO‐evolution rate reached a maximum of 154.9 mmol g −1 h −1 in the dark compartment of the APS cell. Scanning electrochemical–atomic force microscopy showed the localization of electrons on the single‐nickel‐atom sites of the Ni‐SNG catalyst, thus confirming that the multielectron reduction of CO2 to CO was kinetically favored. Abstract : Light and dark : Integration of an artificial photosynthetic system with photovoltaic cells led to solar‐driven syngas production with an impressive overall quantum efficiency of 6.29 % and a total Faradaic efficiency of unity. Solar photons harvested by a photoanodic semiconductor split H2 O, and Ni centers in the cathode catalyzed CO2 reduction to enable syngas production with up to 13.6 % solar‐to‐syngas energy‐conversion efficiency.