Rational Design of N-doped Carbon Coated Cobalt Nanoparticles for Highly Efficient and Durable Photothermal CO 2 Conversion

The photothermal CO hydrogenation to high value-added chemicals and fuels is an appealing approach to alleviate the energy and environmental concerns. However, it still relies on the development of earth-abundant, efficient and durable catalysts. Here, we report the design of N-doped carbon coated Co nanoparticles (NPs) as a photothermal catalyst, synthesized through a two-step pyrolysis of Co-based ZIF-67 precursor. Consequently, the catalyst exhibits remarkable activity and stability for photothermal CO hydrogenation to CO with a 0.75 mol g h CO production rate under the full spectrum of light illumination. The high activity and durability of this Co NPs are mainly attributed to the synergy of the attuned size of Co NPs, the thickness of carbon layers and the N doping species. Impressively, the experimental characterizations and theoretical simulations show that such a simple N-doped carbon coating strategy can effectively facilitate the desorption of generated CO and activation of reactants due to the strong photothermal effect. This work provides a simple and efficient route for the preparation of highly active and durable nonprecious metal catalysts for promising photothermal catalytic reactions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.