BARC/PUB/2023/0984

 
 

Single-Atom Ru Catalyst-Decorated CNF(ZnO) Nanocages for Efficient H2 Evolution and CH3OH Production 

 
     
 
Author(s)

Vennapoosa, C. S.; Varangane, S.; Abraham, B. M.; Bhasin, V.; and others
(A&MPD)

Source

Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2023. Vol. 14: pp. 11400-11411

ABSTRACT

The presence of transition-metal single-atom catalysts effectively enhances the interaction between the substrate and reactant molecules, thus exhibiting extraordinary catalytic performance. In this work, we for the first time report a facile synthetic procedure for placing highly dispersed Ru single atoms on stable CNF(ZnO) nanocages. We unravel the atomistic nature of the Ru single atoms in CNF(ZnO)/Ru systems using advanced HAADFSTEM, HRTEM, and XANES analytical methods. Density functional theory calculations further support the presence of ruthenium single-atom sites in the CNF(ZnO)/Ru system. Our work further demonstrates the excellent photocatalytic ability of the CNF(ZnO)/Ru system with respect to H2 production (5.8 mmol g−1 h−1) and reduction of CO2 to CH3OH [249 μmol (g of catalyst)−1] with apparent quantum efficiencies of 3.8% and 1.4% for H2 and CH3OH generation, respectively. Our studies unambiguously demonstrate the presence of atomically dispersed ruthenium sites in CNF(ZnO)/Ru catalysts, which greatly enhance charge transfer, thus facilitating the aforementioned photocatalytic redox reactions.

 
 
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