Photo-thermal CO2 reduction with methane on group VIII metals: In situ reduced WO3 support for enhanced catalytic activity

• Published in: Chinese journal of catalysis 2021-11, Vol.42 (11), p.1976-1982
• Main Authors: Liu, Huimin, Meng, Xianguang, Yang, Weiwei, Zhao, Guixia, He, Dehua, Ye, Jinhua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CO2 reduction; In situ reduction; Photocatalysis; Tungsten oxide; Visible light
• ISSN: 1872-2067; 1872-2067
• DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(21)63835-4

Photo-thermal CO2 reduction with methane (CRM) is beneficial for solar energy harvesting and energy storage. The search for efficient photo-thermal catalysts is of great significance. Here, we reveal that group VIII metal catalysts supported by optical material WO3 are more effective for photo-thermal CRM, giving catalytic activities with visible light assistance that are 1.4–2.4 times higher than that achieved under thermal conditions. The activity enhancement (1.4–2.4 times) was comparable to that achieved with plasmonic-Au-promoted catalysts (1.7 times). Characterization results indicated that WO3 was partially reduced to WO3–xin situ under the reductive CRM reaction atmosphere, and that WO3–x rather than WO3 enhanced the activities with visible light assistance. Our method provides a promising approach for improving the activity of catalysts under light irradiation. WO3 could be reduced in situ to WO3–x in a photo-thermal CRM reaction system, which facilitated the rate-determining step (CO2 activation) and improved the performance of supported group VIII metal catalysts.